Jonathan Oberlander has written a fantastic Viewpoint in the NEJM, “The Virtues and Vices of Single-Payer Health Care“. Go read it. Totally worth your time. I especially like this part (emphasis mine):
In short, single payer has no realistic path to enactment in the foreseeable future. It remains an aspiration more than a viable reform program. Single-payer supporters have not articulated a convincing strategy for overcoming the formidable obstacles that stand in its way. Nor have they, despite substantial public support for single payer, succeeded in mobilizing a social movement that could potentially break down those barriers. The pressing question is not about whether Medicare for All can be enacted during the next presidential administration — it can’t — but where health care reform goes from here.
It’s been a while since I felt like people were saying it was my fault there isn’t a single payer system. Now they can blame Jonathan. Or, they can read his actual words and follow his advice.
P.S. Here’s one of the many times I wasn’t pro-single payer enough. Wow, I was young.
