Comments on: The Limits of Competition and the Rebirth of the Public Option http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2009/10/the-limits-of-competition-and-the-rebirth-of-the-public-option.html The Law, the Universe, and Everything Sat, 20 Mar 2010 17:54:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Daniel S. Goldberg http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2009/10/the-limits-of-competition-and-the-rebirth-of-the-public-option.html/comment-page-1#comment-66035 Daniel S. Goldberg Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:05:52 +0000 http://www.concurringopinions.com/?p=21520#comment-66035 Great post, but as you can probably guess, I share Callahan's pessimism. The individualism in American political culture -- which is not simply a colloquial stereotype but has been confirmed by political scientists, see esp. Kingdon -- renders the notion of health as a commons unlikely to generate the traction needed to take shape in this country. I was recently at a conference in Europe, and though my interlocutors were unfailingly polite, each and every one of them asked some version of the question, "WTF is going on over there? From over here it looks like lunacy." Which, of course, it is. As we have discussed, I don't think the current "conversation" we are having, assuming, likely improperly, it even deserves the term, is really the most important one to be having since health care and population health are not nearly so closely related as most assume. But the level of dialogue on the conversation we are having is simply execrable. And I tend to think Callahan is right when he despairs, given some of the deep-seeded social and cultural reasons why the conversation is so poor. Of course, there is no other choice, for those of us convinced of the normative need for health care reform. Still, I wish fervently that the heat and light of the latter would no so obscure the moral and epidemiologic need to focus on health, rather than health care. Great post, but as you can probably guess, I share Callahan’s pessimism. The individualism in American political culture — which is not simply a colloquial stereotype but has been confirmed by political scientists, see esp. Kingdon — renders the notion of health as a commons unlikely to generate the traction needed to take shape in this country.

I was recently at a conference in Europe, and though my interlocutors were unfailingly polite, each and every one of them asked some version of the question, “WTF is going on over there? From over here it looks like lunacy.” Which, of course, it is. As we have discussed, I don’t think the current “conversation” we are having, assuming, likely improperly, it even deserves the term, is really the most important one to be having since health care and population health are not nearly so closely related as most assume. But the level of dialogue on the conversation we are having is simply execrable. And I tend to think Callahan is right when he despairs, given some of the deep-seeded social and cultural reasons why the conversation is so poor.

Of course, there is no other choice, for those of us convinced of the normative need for health care reform. Still, I wish fervently that the heat and light of the latter would no so obscure the moral and epidemiologic need to focus on health, rather than health care.

]]> By: hair salon london http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2009/10/the-limits-of-competition-and-the-rebirth-of-the-public-option.html/comment-page-1#comment-66033 hair salon london Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:57:01 +0000 http://www.concurringopinions.com/?p=21520#comment-66033 Don't abandon....Public Option ...its without public option can't success.. Don’t abandon….Public Option …its without public option can’t success..

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