I agree with Lenny below – it is the right direction. It is said that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton released plan for universal health coverage is designed to avoid the political flaws in her failed proposal of 1993-94. Read: more palatable to voters. She seems to have done so, even if Republicans cry otherwise.
I have not seen details of the plan, and I am sure many Republicans have not either, but of course that does not stop them from calling it inspired by “European bureaucracies”, as the NYT quotes Mitt Romney, which apparently is a bad thing. Or is it? One thing seems to be crystal clear: the US needs to be inspired by SOMETHING other than this nation itself, because we suck at healthcare. This is not only my opinion, but  the opinion of US citizens itself, more than half of which value the health care negatively, i.e. we are worse than lawyers, airlines and real estate agents!

So why not get inspired by countries that excel in health care, even if at the ‘cost’ of society. I am sick of hearing people like Rudy Guliani state that “[w]hen we want to cover poor people, as we should, we give them vouchers.” This in addition to a tax credit and health savings accounts. Rudy [or insert name of any Republican here], your party has pushed this issue for the longest time, and where has it gotten us?

Cross post from http://beactive.blogspot.com
I am not a huge fan of Hillary, but I think she may have a good idea here. The plan basically allows anyone to keep their own health insurance or buy into another. This is a major point for many who have insurance and are scared of a change.

The best part is that it allows you to buy into a government-run plan with no private insurer. This is what those at the Rockridge Institute call a strategic initiative. It allows more and more people to get on a government-run plan (like Medicare). Then we can prove to people that a Medicare-like plan is better than their private plan. Hopefully, this will switch more and more people over to a Medicare-like plan, bringing us on to a path of Medicare for All (single payer).

The plan has parts that I disagree with, such as the funding (tax credits), but I think the general idea is in the right direction.

We have the responsibility as a country to provide all with access to comprehensive medical care.