Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing (May 2005)

Responsible Health Insurance Revisited: Pouring Liberal Wine into a Conservative Bottle

  • Laurence Seidman

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5034/inquiryjrnl_42.2.118
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 42

Abstract

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In 1991, an article appeared proposing a plan for “Responsible National Health Insurance” (RHI) that contained three crucial elements supported by economists affiliated with two conservative policy institutions (the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation). The central purpose of this article is to revisit RHI in light of developments over the past decade, and to make the case that liberals, rather than reject RHI, now should support it, provided conservatives agree to sufficient funding. In this article, I recommend “pouring liberal wine into this conservative bottle.”