Ripe for Reform

Our health care system is in shambles. While costs to consumers have soared, insurance and HMO overhead have soared, too.

Whether you prefer employer-provided insurance or are a fan of single-payer insurance - it’s pretty clear that something has to change - and even staunch conservatives like our own Bob Bennett are participating in the discussion.

I don’t know what the best solution would be. I admit that I’m partial to single-payer, universal health care. There are a couple of reasons for this: first, I don’t believe that the health care industry should be treated as a standard, free-market good. There are too many barriers to quality information for consumers, and even if that information were available, it is beyond most people’s capacity to understand. So to treat it as a normal good, like a car or a stereo, just doesn’t make sense.

Second, I do believe that access to health care is a human right (and no, “just go to an emergency room” does not count as access).

But I know that government-run or -administered health care might be a hard sell in this relatively libertarian and conservative (in the Burkean sense) country.

So I hope that those who advocate health care reform, on both sides of the aisle, are willing to compromise. Because that might be the only way anything will get done.