Health Changes: Incremental or Comprehensive?

By Scott Horsley
National Public Radio, Feb. 25, 2010

(Excerpt)

Of course President Obama himself opted for an incremental approach early on in the health care debate when he rejected calls for a single-payer system as too disruptive to the status quo. Vermont Congressman Peter Welch wants the president to reconsider, [saying] the government would avoid a lot of confusion and complexity by simply expanding Medicare to cover everyone.

REP. PETER WELCH: “This debate we’ve had here in Washington, going around and around, has essentially been, in some ways, avoiding the obvious.”

Welch argues that expanding Medicare would give consumers guaranteed health care and a choice of providers, while sharply reducing administrative costs. That’s one health care overhaul that’s too comprehensive even for President Obama.