The Lourey health care plan

Gubernatorial candidate Becky Lourey released her health care plan today. It would include a constitutional amendment affirming health care as a basic right, mandates on increasing efficiency, and expanding the MinnesotaCare program to provide universal health care coverage.

I'm glad to see a plan that includes universal coverage, which is where we need to end up, and soon. I don't know if MinnesotaCare is the best way to accomplish this. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. In any case, starting a discussion is the first step.

Predictably, the Republican response is to whine about "big government". I guess Republican party chair Ron Carey thinks that doing nothing and letting the market take care of it is the way to go. Or maybe he agrees with President Bush that Minnesotans need Health Savings Accounts because we have too much health insurance?

I don't like to see government get involved in markets. Take municipal liquor stores, for example: the government has no business selling anything like alcohol. However, when the market fails, the government needs to step it. The market has failed for health care. It's time to do something about it.