The public option

This week as Congress tries to cobble together a health-care plan out of the five in circulation, I'm thinking again about T.R. Reid's excellent book The Healing of America. In August I linked to some of Reid's articles here, and in September I previewed his book here. Today The Christian Century posted my actual review of the book here, and I hope you'll read the review and then go buy or borrow the book. It offers a wide range of possibilities that just might work in the United States--at least, they are working quite well elsewhere.

Meanwhile, this is the week to contact your member of Congress. After reading Reid, I think the best system for America would be to keep private insurers but require them to be not-for-profit. That's not going to happen, though, so I'm convinced that the second-best system would include a public option to ensure that everyone has basic health-care coverage at a reasonable cost.

If you too are in favor of a public option, click here and consider signing Howard Dean's petition, to be presented to Congress Monday, October 19. Congressional Republican leader John Boehner has said he doesn't know anyone outside Congress who is in favor of the public option. Let's introduce ourselves.