Arnold Kling calls the focus on universal healthcare coverage The Universal Distraction and opens his piece with this quote from John Graham of the Pacific Research Institute:
Nobody is talking about a free-market approach in health care. The spectrum today is between fascism and Communism.
Kling explains:
In this context, the conservative approach involves mandatory health insurance. The liberal approach involves expanding government coverage. Hence, it is either fascism or Communism.The main proponents of “universal coverage” want to throw more money at the current health care system, which strikes me as unwise. I believe that the “universal coverage” mantra is dysfunctional for the same reason that “more money for public schools” is a dysfunctional mantra for education. When your current approach is digging you into a hole, the sensible thing to do is not to dig faster. It is to stop digging.