Left Meets Right on Healthcare

There is news from the national front that confounds the typical left/right view of healthcare. A new poll (link) from the Pew Charitable Trust shows that both conservatives and liberals favor health insurance for all, even if taxes increase. This defies the old notion of where the left/right healthcare breakdown lies. A whopping 65% of respondents favored government guaranteed health insurance for all, including more than 55% of conservatives. The survey broke different brands of left and right, and support was high across the board. The question asked specifically about government-run insurance, which the amendment does not mandate. However, support was strong for a government guarantee. Instead, a government program would be one among many solutions that could meet the amendment’s requirements. Increasingly, it seems that both the right and the left believe that the time to reform healthcare is now. In Massachusetts, the foundation for that reform is the Health Care Amendment.