councilor.org
| Source | Dave Anderson |
| Date | 02/11/14/16:12 |
| ABC News
November 14, 2002 Gore Supports Single-Payer On a stage in a synagogue on New York's Upper West Side Wednesday night, Gore made this stunning announcement to several hundred people in response to a question from the event's host. Gore suggested he was hesitant to reveal his position at this forum - but then declared that he had come "reluctantly" to the conclusion that single-payer is the best solution to the nation's health insurance crisis. Long supported by the left, single-payer plans involve all money spent on health care being collected by some public agency or trust fund, which then pays for comprehensive coverage, delivered privately and publicly, for all citizens. Issues of taxation, quality of care, availability of care, and medical innovation are all implicated in such a system, with Canada's plan often used as the basis for understanding and analysis. For Gore, this represents a shocking switch. Although many of the people who worked with Hillary Clinton and Ira Magaziner on the Clinton health care plan at the start of the Clinton/Gore Administration were intellectually and morally sympathetic to single-payer, it was rejected as being simply too radical and too big a political target. Even Bill Bradley, who frequently charged Gore during the 2000 presidential primary with being timid on finding health care solutions, disappointed many of his own supporters by not coming out for single-payer. And if Gore is a presidential candidate for 2004, this gambit would allow him to outflank on the left even Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, whose calls for massive new spending on health care so far do not include support for single-payer. Gore's decision to go public with his new position could be viewed as part of his reported avowal to speak more from the heart on big issues he cares about, feeling less encumbered by what polls and focus groups might say is popular. Some surely will see Gore's switch as part of a series of calculated moves perhaps intended lock up the left wing of the Democratic party in hopes of securing the party's presidential nomination. Others will say that Gore isn't even necessarily running for president, and is feeling liberated enough to speak his mind and take bold policy positions deriving from his nearly unparalleled experience in, and knowledge of, a range of foreign and domestic policy issues. It is surely the case, though, that potential 2004 rivals Gephardt, Edwards, Kerry, Lieberman, Dean, and Daschle can all be expected now to take positions in relation to single-payer. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/DailyNews/TheNote_Special2.html |
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