Nor is there any reason why the state should not assist the individuals in providing for those common hazards of life against which, because of their uncertainty, few individuals can make adequate provision. Where, as in the case of sickness and accident, neither the desire to avoid such calamities nor the efforts to overcome their consequences are as a rule weakened by the provision of assistance - where, in short, we deal with genuinely insurable risks - the case for the state's helping to organize a comprehensive system of social insurance is very strong... Wherever communal action can mitigate disasters against which the individual can neither attempt to guard himself nor make the provision for the consequences, such communal action should undoubtedly be taken.
-- Friedrich Hayek, The Road To Serfdom (Chapter 9).
Hayek, for those who don't know his work, was every libertarian's favorite economist, a nearly fanatical advocate of free markets. This passage, which I got from
Andrew Sullivan, points out better than anything else I have seen how bizarre and senseless American opposition to health reform really is. National health insurance isn't a left wing thing, it is a moral and sensible thing.
1 comment:
People oppose it because they're afraid that money from their pockets will pay for some lazy and undeserving person's health care.
Blanketing the country with pictures of white working people's health care nightmares might help the cause.
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