Kristof on Health Care Reform

We've all heard the horror stories about state-run health care. Long waits, substandard care, etc. But how much of it is true and how much of it is scare tactics to maintain a status quo that is incredibly profitable for some folks?

Nicholas Kristof engages this issue in today's NY Times. When both sides are heard, and all the facts separated from all the hysteria, it's pretty damned difficult to get past a few glaring statistics. As he puts it:

But the bottom line is that America’s health care system spends nearly twice as much per person as Canada’s (building the wealth of hospital tycoons like Mr. Scott). Yet our infant mortality rate is 40 percent higher than Canada’s, and American mothers are 57 percent more likely to die in childbirth than Canadian ones.

Health care reform is coming, because it has to. What comes out the other side of this process is incredibly important. It's boring, but it's one of the most important things happening in government right now. I just hope we build on the foundations of fact and the public good, not on PR campaigns, fear, and profit.