Michael Hiltzik In The L.A. Times Extolls Single-Payer Health Plan
Michael Hiltzik is an excellent columnist on the Business pages of the L.A. Times. He keeps his eye on the big picture, and his honesty, his devotion to the public interest, remain steadfast.
On Thursday, Oct. 6, Hiltzik turned again to the devilish health care issue, and came out for a single-payer plan. He acknowledged that achieving this against the corporate health lobbies is going to be terribly difficult, bt he argued it was worth working on.
As he acknowledged, the health care embroglio in this country in growing all the time. There are more and more uninsured people, more employers are abandoning health care coverage for their employees and the inadequacy of the present private, for-profit system has become very clear.
Yet, as with so many issues, the obstacles to reform seem almost insuperable. It would take, at the very least, a courageous reforming President to advance such a plan, and it would be a fight to the finish with all those company and interests who profit from the present system.
It is worth remember that even with Bill Clinton, his mind was in the right place, but he did not have the heart and simple gumption to take on the health care providers and their scurrilous advertising against the plan Clinton's wife, Hilary, was working on.
Hiltzik now writes anew on the subject, and his column yesterday was a most reasonable one, and again demonstrates how the best elements of the press are ready to fight the special interests on behalf of the people.
Of course, that is not to say it's around the corner. Neither political party is really ready to take on this issue.
The hope eventually is a powerful independent presidential candidacy, such as might be provided by John McCain. That's why Time magazine's article on how well McCain and Hilary Clinton get along was so tantalizing a few weeks ago.
Something has to get the country out of the rut on health care. Somebody has to take on these powerful corporate interests, but it doesn't seem as if it is going to happen. There are too damn few Michael Hiltziks, that's why.
On Thursday, Oct. 6, Hiltzik turned again to the devilish health care issue, and came out for a single-payer plan. He acknowledged that achieving this against the corporate health lobbies is going to be terribly difficult, bt he argued it was worth working on.
As he acknowledged, the health care embroglio in this country in growing all the time. There are more and more uninsured people, more employers are abandoning health care coverage for their employees and the inadequacy of the present private, for-profit system has become very clear.
Yet, as with so many issues, the obstacles to reform seem almost insuperable. It would take, at the very least, a courageous reforming President to advance such a plan, and it would be a fight to the finish with all those company and interests who profit from the present system.
It is worth remember that even with Bill Clinton, his mind was in the right place, but he did not have the heart and simple gumption to take on the health care providers and their scurrilous advertising against the plan Clinton's wife, Hilary, was working on.
Hiltzik now writes anew on the subject, and his column yesterday was a most reasonable one, and again demonstrates how the best elements of the press are ready to fight the special interests on behalf of the people.
Of course, that is not to say it's around the corner. Neither political party is really ready to take on this issue.
The hope eventually is a powerful independent presidential candidacy, such as might be provided by John McCain. That's why Time magazine's article on how well McCain and Hilary Clinton get along was so tantalizing a few weeks ago.
Something has to get the country out of the rut on health care. Somebody has to take on these powerful corporate interests, but it doesn't seem as if it is going to happen. There are too damn few Michael Hiltziks, that's why.
posted by Ken Reich at 10:08 AM
1 Comments:
I discovered your blog recently and enjoy it. In regards to your statement that it is a big fight against big corporate interests for health insurance overhaul, you might find that those outside of the health care industry are as sick of the status quo as everyone else, since they are footing a bill that is growing much faster than any of their costs. Substantive change is what is needed, not just figuring out a way of (unfairly) allocating exploding costs.
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