Maybe It Is Hillary Time

Back during the Clinton years, Hillary was largely known as the architect of the administration's plan to greatly overhaul the health care industry, with the goal of ensuring health care for all Americans. The plan crashed and burned, largely under the weight of catcalls of "socialized medicine." More than a decade on, it appears that the American people may be read for something like that.

According to a new CBS/New York Times poll, a majority of Americans are willing to pay higher taxes or forgo future tax cuts in order to provide health care coverage for all. It is the top top domestic issue for most voters. Does that mean widespread support for a Canadian-style government-run single payer system? Not quite:

One question offered a choice between the current system and a national health insurance program covering everyone, administered by the government and financed by taxpayers. Thirty-eight percent said they preferred the current system, 47 percent the government-run approach.

Robert Blendon, an expert at Harvard on public opinion and health, said politicians had to find some compromise between these philosophical divisions on the role of government, which are deep-seated in American culture, or 'we’re going to have the same train wreck we did before.'

This is one issue where I part company fairly dramatically from the libertarians. Health care is as necessary to the health (no pun intended) of modern society as food and shelter. The private sector in this country has failed miserably in an area in which other civilized nations have found success. Reform in this area needs to be result oriented, not ideologically driven.