Brad Plumer has some policy-wonk posts up today about health care reform. Although this isn't a front burner issue for me most of the time, it got me thinking.
I'm generally supportive of converting America to a single-payer health care system like what most European countries and Canada have. And then it hit me -- what if my wish came true?
Would I trust my government to make decisions about things like who gets access to prescription birth control devices? Not if a Republican were in the White House. Given the SCOTUS precedent of Griswold v CT, I'm fairly sure they couldn't eliminate birth control entirely, but they could include things like 'conscience clause' that would allow doctors to not write prescriptions for birth control pills if they chose not to. As we've already seen with abortion services, if nobody chooses to provide something, you have an effective ban on service even if it is still legal.
That's a really scary scenario, and one that is making me rethink whether I support single-payer health care after all. Just one more thing to blame on the right wing nut jobs trying to run this country.
Comments (3)
Hm... quite a good question. Medicaid, for instance, already has a number of weird restrictions on abortion, which is what you're alluding to, I think.
Hm... will think about this some more. I guess the quick answer would be that if we ever got to the point where single-payer was possible, the forces of conservatism would have been beaten back so thoroughly by then that we wouldn't have to worry about it.
Posted by Brad Plumer | March 25, 2005 6:00 PM
Actually I was thinking more along the lines of birth control pills, but abortion's a factor too.
Posted by fiat lux | March 25, 2005 6:59 PM
Destroying progressive legislation by deliberate misadministration of the delivery departments is part of the war between those who think government can do useful support of society and those who just want to make a buck. The bagman in politics is the unsung hero of the reactionary. That's why public infighting and corruption are prevalent .. you have to pay to get elected.
Posted by opit | March 31, 2005 6:00 PM