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POSTED ON TAP ONLINE: THE CASE FOR BOLDNESS. Prospect founders mix it up, as Bob Kuttner today responds to Paul Starr's progressive case for supporting Bush's health plan:
I've teased Paul, who is ordinarily a rather prudent and moderate liberal, that he is sounding a little like the Italian communists who used to say, Tanto peggio, tanto meglio -- the worse things get, the better for us. Health insurance is such a complex mess, and the insurance industry so politically influential, that giving it more economic (and hence political) power via more individual policies is no strategy for achieving universal public insurance. Bush may be something of a dope, but his industry allies who helped craft this idea are not.Bob also casts skepticism on poorly conceived incremental strategies for achieving universal coverage, and lays out a few paths to comprehensive health care he thinks are more promising. Read the whole thing.A shift to tax-subsidized individual insurance would leave the best off and most politically influential Americans with adequate insurance, and leave the worst off Americans even further behind. Politically, it would set back the process of creating a real coalition for reform.
--The Editors
