From The Democratization of Health Care Series

Posted January 31, 2012 | Updated April 1, 2012

By Gary A. Puckrein

Published on the Huffington Post

Many of us would like to disavow it, but the federal government, with all of its dissonance, is a walking manifestation of our collective voice — 130 million voting Americans (last presidential election) pulling in as many different directions. When we look at the resulting odd misshapen creature (Congress, the Executive Branch, the Supreme Court) that bears no resemblance to any idealized notion of America, it is easy for each of us to see government as a foreign, unresponsive, intrusive entity stumbling around in pursuit of our best interest.

It is this noisy, confused, tripedal creature that has assumed control over the medical market. There are those who cheer in glee that the people, through their elected representatives, have finally stepped in to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable health care. And at the other extreme, there are those who want to wrest control away from government and create a market of individual, medical retail transactions that exist with little government interference. In the middle lies the vast majority who couldn’t care less about market structure and the role of government. Their first and really only concern is to have access to the health care they need, when they need it, at an affordable price.

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