Chicago Tribune
April 15, 2001
George Lundberg, MD, former editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association:
“The Clinton proposal exposed the central problem of system reform. No health system reform will ever get off the ground if the people believe that they have to surrender something to make it happen. We won’t manage even a half-step forward if anyone perceives a loss.”
“… no country has achieved universal insurance voluntarily. It must be mandatory.”
Comment: In a recent comment, we applauded Dr. Lundberg for his support of universal insurance although we disagree with his stand on several issues of health policy. Here Dr. Lundberg defines the most important hurdle on the path to reform. We must demonstrate to those that have coverage that, under a publicly administered, universal risk pool, not only will they not lose anything, they will gain more comprehensive coverage, more freedom of choice in health care, fairness in funding of their care, and the satisfaction of knowing that everyone will have
access to our health care system. Our task must be to inform the nation of the superior benefits of rational reform.