The Last Word on Health Reform

This will be my last post on the subject, I swear, due to two articles so compelling that they prompted my linking.

First, Electoral-vote.com has an overview of the political dimensions that the bill going through the Senate right now addresses. The biggest problem I’ve had with entitlement programs is that there’s a phase out point for subsidies. Why not be comprehensive and provide the same baseline for everyone? Britain gives health insurance to everyone regardless of income. Then there is the issue of how did health insurance ever become the province of the employer? Most companies don’t have expertise on selecting health plans and don’t spend the money any wiser than the employee if he had gotten extra income instead.

Next, T. R. Reid has a good article dispelling myths about the health systems abroad. The US has the “luxury” of being a late adopter in that it can see what worked elsewhere. So, why not just import elements of one of these systems? Politics. The American people take pride in being innovators in everything and turn up their noses at anything “not invented here”.