"...almost every country moved to what today’s health insurance lobbyists might label 'socialized firefighting.' In effect, we have a single-payer system of public fire departments.
"We have the same for policing. If the security guard business were as powerful as the health insurance industry, then it would be denouncing 'government takeovers' and 'socialized police work.'
"Throughout the industrialized world, there are a handful of these areas where governments fill needs better than free markets: fire protection, police work, education, postal service, libraries, health care. The United States goes along with this international trend in every area but one: health care.
"The truth is that government, for all its flaws, manages to do some things right, so that today few people doubt the wisdom of public police or firefighters. And the government has a particularly good record in medical care."
The rest of the story: Health Care That Works by Nicholas D. Kristof (The New York Times 2009-09-02)
Along the same lines: "...there are numerous 'public options' in American life, with many of them rooted deep in the nation's history. In the area of education, there are public schools; in recreation, public parks; in travel, public roads; in fire-fighting, public fire departments; in law enforcement, public police forces; in culture, public libraries; in transportation, public bus and train lines; in mail delivery, the post office; in sanitation, public water supply plumbing, and sewers; in energy, public power; in old-age security, Social Security; in nutrition, public school lunch programs. Where did the notion ever come from that public programs were somehow 'un-American'?
"Even in the disputed area of health care, there exist public hospitals, Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration and the National Institutes of Health." -- When "Public Options" Serve the Public - and When They Don't by Lawrence S. Wittner (truthout 2009-09-03)
No comments:
Post a Comment