Washington Post Op-Ed endorses Edwards healthcare plan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19325-2003Aug4.html

By Ted Halstead and Laurie Rubiner
Tuesday, August 5, 2003; Page A15


Last week Sen. John Edwards became the first presidential candidate in U.S. history to propose solving the problem of the uninsured by making health insurance mandatory. Although his proposed health care mandate is limited to children and young people -- all those under the age of 21 -- it offers the most promising way forward for eventually covering all 41 million uninsured Americans, and it marks a major turning point in our nation's health care debate.

The United States spends more on health care per capita than any other nation, yet one in seven of our citizens, and 12 million children, still lack basic health insurance. There are essentially only two ways to overcome this and achieve universal health insurance. One is to adopt a single-payer, government-run system, which is the norm in Canada and most of Europe. Such a system would have the government acting as the purchaser, administrator and health care decision-maker for all Americans. But a government-run approach has been flatly rejected by the American people time and again, despite the best efforts of five presidents, from Truman to Clinton.

The other -- and far more promising -- path to universal coverage is to approach health insurance as we approach car insurance: Make it mandatory. In essence, all Americans should be required to purchase their own health insurance from among competing private providers, with the government providing subsidies to those who need them ..........

Ted Halstead is president of the New America Foundation. Laurie Rubiner is director of the foundation's Universal Health Insurance Program.

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I read that editorial and it was really thoughtful about how Edwards' ideas put the country on the right path to universal and start where we should start -- kids.