Here's What's Missing From the Health-Care Debate
There needs to be more frank talk and better explanations about the costs and trade-offs of plans like Medicare for All.
Raise your hand if you want to debate health care.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images North AmericaHealth care took up a decent portion of the Democratic presidential debates this week. For all of the verbiage, we didn’t learn much new. Everybody wants universal coverage, but they have different ideas about how to get there. One group, led Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, want a single-payer system like “Medicare for All”; others, including former Vice President Joe Biden, prefer various flavors of a public option that co-exists with elements of the status quo.
Nonetheless, there were a few moments that drew attention to important issues that could (or should) shape the health-care discussion going forward: