Means and Ends (Joshua Cohen & Glenn Loury)

[sapeye]

Originally Posted by Don Zeko

Pretty much. I don't think that putting an obvious non-starter like single payer on the table would have had a positive effect on the ultimate outcome, but the answer to that question is so hard to assess that I doubt we'll ever know for sure, or even have any real evidence to bring to bear. This is definitely agree to disagree territory.

If Obama were a stronger, more principled president single payer might have had at least a chance. It wasn't easy for Tommy Douglas, the Premier of Saskatchewan, to introduce single payer to Canada either, but he fought for it. Once people saw the benefits, it spread to the rest of Canada. Of course the US isn't Canada.