Other newspapers’ opinions: Watching the health care debate
Saturday, August 22, 2009 11:23 PM PDT
As Israelis observe Americans debate universal health care, we find ourselves struck by the fact our little country is actually more advanced than the U.S. in providing all residents with medical coverage. But we take no pleasure in the realization that political discourse in the U.S. has sometimes deteriorated to the crude levels too often seen in Israel. ...
According to the Pew Research Center, most Republicans say the U.S. health care system doesn’t need fixing, while most Democrats argue the opposite view. But overall, says the center, 75 percent of Americans do want to change the system. ...
Even Obama supporters say he needs to give the American people more specifics on how the plan will be paid for and better explain why providing a public or quasi-public option is not some elaborate plot for a government takeover of all health care delivery.
We do not presume to tell Americans how to proceed. We can only point to our own experience which demonstrates — albeit on a smaller scale — that universal coverage is workable.
However, there is no doubt that Israelis sacrifice a level of privacy that Americans enjoy. ...
Everyone is covered. We pay for it all through individual sliding-scale health taxes deducted from our salaries and transferred to the health funds via the National Insurance Institute.
It may well be that a modified version of our system could work well in the American setting.
— The Jerusalem Post
