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November 27, 2007
You mean it isn’t “free?”
by Peter Pitts
What’s the difference between “universal” health care and “government” health care?
The sad answer is that the first is a good political sound bite and the latter is not. The truth is that they’re the same thing -- and neither is “free.”
There is no such thing as “health care from heaven.” Just ask the citizens of any nation in the EU or Canada. Better yet, ask Illinois’ Governor Rod Blagojevich whose plan for “free” and “universal” coverage in the Prairie State (designed to be funded via a very un-free $7.6 billion gross receipts tax on Illinois businesses) went down in flames in the state legislature 107-0 ... after the Governor came out against his own idea.
As the Wall Street Journal opined, “'Universal' government health care has once again returned as a political cause, with many Democrats believing it's the key to White House victory in 2008. They might want to study last week's news from Illinois, where Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich's tax increase to finance health care became the political rout of the year."
Some candidates for the presidency are beginning to get the picture – others not so much. Here’s an article from the New York Times that points out the problems of sound-bite health care plans:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/us/politics/25mass.html?_health&oref=slogin
There’s no such thing as a free lunch – or “free” health care.
Posted by peterpitts at November 27, 2007 09:04 AM
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