Everywhere I go, everyone I meet supports single-payer health care. The fact that it's not even on the table in Washington makes it hard to believe that health care "reform" is being designed to benefit the average citizen.
Last night NY Times columnist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman spoke to a friendly crowd in Princeton, NJ at an event for Common Cause of NJ, in a session moderated by the author known as "Adam Smith." A key moment was when an audience questioner thanked Krugman for writing columns supporting single-payer health care reform, and the audience broke out in applause (about 10 seconds into the clip):
This was the only time the hour-long event was interrupted by applause (and cheering).
This is just one indication of how strongly people feel about this issue, and how much they appreciate anyone who advances the cause of single payer. The questioner noted the "deafening silence" on the subject in the establishment media, including the New York Times and PBS, despite widespread support among the public, physicians, and credible studies that demonstrate that single payer would provide universal coverage at lower cost than the current system – or any alternative that's now being proposed.
Krugman explained his support for a hybrid plan with a public option and universal coverage that could evolve into single payer as a politically necessary step on the way to single payer.
This is the decision a lot of us have to make. If you think single payer is the right way to go but you see the possibility of having a less-good system but still universal with the possibility of improving actually turned into legislation, we have a real chance that by the end of this year, universal health care will actually be law in America.
But there's no economic reason for the intermediate step of a hybrid plan. Krugman recently visited Taiwan which instituted single payer in one big leap and it "worked beautifully." Krugman wrapped up his comments:
The economics of health care is easy. It's only the politics that are hard.
In this day and age, easy economics ought to be easy politics. We can't afford another big corporate bailout for the insurance and pharmaceutical giants. Have you contacted your U.S. Senators and Representative to let them know where you stand on health care reform?