Thursday 28 June 2012

Looks like the US might get a public health care system slightly worth the name after all

Surprising positive news from North America: the US supreme court has upheld the "Obamacare proposal" with one minor change. A summary of the legal argumentation and outcome is here. The ruling itself is here.

The minor change is that states may refuse to join the Obamacare expansion of health insurance coverage but keep a bit of federal money for medicaid. However, this will mean that states that join the expansion will ijn the long run be more attractive for people to move to and live in, and it seems plausible to speculate that in the long run also sceptical states will eventually accept the entire Obamacare package.

Now, Obamacare is certainly not a perfect public health care insurance system, but it is clear that from the perspective of human well-being, equity and long-term societal and communal security it is far better than what has been available so far.

President Obama's own reaction can be seen here:

2 comments:

  1. Så kul att se honom i högform igen! Intelligent, engagerad, empatisk, proaktiv, fokuserad, tydlig, energisk. Och allt detta med knappt ens en gnutta retorik eller skådespel.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with you that both health care systems have their advantages and disadvantages. The best would be to have a mix or combination of both systems. The story about Hugo is an example of a great contribution between both systems.

    ReplyDelete