A conservative case for universal coverage

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com ^ | january 17, 2014 | avik roy

[lowbridge]

AVIK ROY is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a former health policy adviser to Mitt Romney

[BenLurkin]

Statism (eg universal healthcare) and conservatism are mutually incompatible.

[mort56]

There is not conservative case for government control of our lives. Period!

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

"at a fraction of what we spend"

For a fraction of the population, too. Funny how that works.

[Drill Thrawl]

its exchanges contain some of the unattractive features of Obamacare, like an individual mandate and excessively broad benefit requirements.

And that right there shows there is NO conservative case. There is NO liberty or self-determination if the gubment dictates what I must buy. How did we end up with so damn many progs in the party?

[kosciusko51]

How did we end up with so damn many progs in the party?

Too many pragmatists and not enough ideologues.

[Irenic]

Yeah, but Switzerland doesn’t have people running all through their borders and becoming a citizen is difficult, like Japan.

[TurboZamboni]

They also don’t advertise free gubmint cheese for non-citizens outside their borders.

[Jim from C-Town]

This is all predicated on a mound of Horse $hit. This idiot forgets that Singapore and Switzerland are homogenous societies with fewer residents than most bus stops. Hardly a thing he says is convertible to a continental hegemony of 300+ millions.

Besides he is a Manhattan Institute Leftist so he can be dismissed out of hand.

[beandog]

The government doesn’t subsidize anything. We, the taxpayers, do. Once again, I would be required to not only pay for my own health care but a bunch of other peoples. I’m tired of paying for other peoples free stuff.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Not only do Switzerland and Singapore have only a fraction of our population, they don’t have millions of illegal aliens draining the budget (federal and state/local), along with the crime they bring.

Also their combined defense budgets are, as we say in Yiddish, only “bupkis” (chump change, pennies) as compared to that of the US and OUR WORLDWIDE RESPONSIBLITIES.

You just cannot compare the US to these pipsqueak countries regarding healthcare policies or much of any other national policies.

If it weren’t for the US, there would be no Switzerland or Singapore. Maybe a Swissdeutchland and a Peoples Republic of Singapore instead.

It is like the French people who complain that US visitors don’t speak French (I do, un peu), to which we reply. “Maybe, but thanks to us, you still do”.

There is a difference.

[GeronL]

There is NO conservative argument for it

[umgud]

I’m going to guess that a smaller percentage of their populations are on the taxpayer dole than the USA.

[PieterCasparzen]

Switzerland, home to new world order’s Bank of International Settlements.

[4Liberty]

Swiss Border "fences," & require no expenditures:

[Paine in the Neck]

And that right there shows there is NO conservative case. There is NO liberty or self-determination if the gubment dictates what I must buy. How did we end up with so damn many progs in the party?

Exactly. Unless I have the freedom to obtain or decline coverage, to pay cash or do without medical treatment, then I am not free. Secondly, despite the execrable John Roberts, the Constitution gives no auhtority whatsoever to the Federal government to interfere with my private medical choices.

[Olog-hai]

Precisely. Whenever someone touts a “conservative case” for a leftist cause, that someone is himself a liberal, often trying to pass himself off as “conservative”.

[Darren McCarty]

Lost me at the word mandate

[pieceofthepuzzle]

The US is not Switzerland or Singapore. The holes in this author's arguments are big enough for some small planets to fit through, and the first rule of thumb when deciding what's best for health care is to ask a combination of patients, and those who provide the care, for real, not policy wonks. The real world accuracy of these types of policy advisors is akin to the accuracy of global warming modeling.

[OneWingedShark]

There is NO conservative argument for it

Sure there is — if you take conservative to mean keeping things the same.
The government wants to keep off the constraints of the Constitution that it's thrown off.