Leaning Toward Universal Health Insurance, Not Universal Health Care

Leaning Toward Universal Health Insurance, Not Universal Health Care in Politics and Legislation

In a previous post, we said that universal health care would likely never be possible in the U.S. any time soon — in the single-payer model.

The U.S. health system is too big, too complicated, and too diverse to ever be able to switch to single-payer.

But that doesn’t mean requiring all Americans to obtain health insurance is off the table.

Lately, the health care community has been abuzz about what to do with the health system in the coming years. It’s widely agreed that we need to reform how health care is delivered and it’s increasingly looking like universal insurance coverage (think Massachusetts) is a real possibility.

So really what we’re talking about is universal health insurance, not universal health care.

The stars are aligned for universal coverage — Democrats, who traditionally support an insurance mandate, now control the White House and U.S. Congress. The health insurance industry has even thrown in support.

There will still be plenty of debates on the specifics of a universal health insurance law, noted a very informative Los Angeles Times article, but the times are right for requiring coverage.

“Possibly more important than policy agreements is the fact that the political forces now are in alignment,” said UC Berkeley political scientist Jacob Hacker.

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