Invitation to a Dialogue: A National Health Plan

Abstract

In “Will Health Care Reform Survive the Courts?” (State of Play, Sunday Review, Aug. 21), Philip M. Boffey states that “reforms would work far less well without an individual mandate” that requires citizens to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. I disagree. Health care reform could provide better care at less cost by replacing individual mandates with a single-payer national health care plan financed by taxes. Congress’s power to mandate purchase of private products sold at a profit is disputable, but Congress’s power to tax is not.