I tend to recoil from statements that run something like “There are two kinds of people . . . ” This time, however, I’ll give Jared Polis credit for nailing it: “There are those of you who trust an insurance company over the government and others who trust the government over insurance companies.”
When it comes down to it I’d be interested to see polling data on how many insured Americans currently trust their insurers. The more apt expression of Polis’ observation may be that some people mistrust one body less than they mistrust the other. Another way to look at this is to ask a slightly different question. Anymore it’s not about whether you want your health care rationed. The question to ask is whom do you want doing the rationing, your insurance company or your government?
The answer to this question, I think, comes down to the individual’s answer to another question that is even more important: Is access to quality health care in America a right or a privilege? I’ll venture that if you believe health care for all is a right, then you’ll lean toward letting the government take the reins. If you believe that health care is a privilege, then you may be more inclined to let the insurance companies decide who to treat (by and large middle-income earners and higher, who can afford to meet the ever-rising premiums) and who to ration (by and large the lower- and lower-middle income earners, who may not get benefits through employment or may opt out from health benefits packages that seem to take too big a bite).
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