Health Care BS

One reason health care reform is difficult to get done involves the sanctimonious tone that so many adopt when discussing the issue. A classic example of false piety can be found in one of Bill Clinton’s recent effusions at the KCBS health care symposium:

Our health care system is immoral because it doesn’t provide health care to everybody …

Being quite familiar with the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), Clinton knows perfectly well that all Americans have access to care if they really need it. So, coming from him, this kind of sanctimony is particularly egregious.

Unfortunately, Clinton is not alone in adopting a self-righteous tone on this issue. Ironically, this kind of moral posturing probably hurts the cause of meaningful reform. It cheapens the debate, trivializes legitimate concerns, and it will eventually turn off the most thoughtful members of the electorate.