Health Care Will Be (Almost) a Right Not a Privilege
We progressives are distraught over losing something that is important to our vision of health care reform: a public option that would compete with private insurance and hold down health insurance costs. Make no mistake, that was, indeed a loss. But the public option was not the only important feature of the legislation we have been supporting. Indeed, while holding down costs are important to this country, the fundamental moral issue is making sure that everyone can get affordable health care. And, if the conference committee process goes as we expect, on that critical issue we are going to win a major victory. The reform bills before Congress will take this country close to the ideal of making health care a right not a privilege. They will make health insurance affordable for almost all Americans and do more to help working and middle class Americans than any government program since… Continue reading