The Washington Post isn't known as a bastion of socialist thought. Therefore it was positively uplifting to read its endorsement of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's healthcare reform initiative:
"As in Massachusetts, the key to Mr. Schwarzenegger's proposal is a requirement that individuals buy insurance. The aim of this mandate is to break the spiral that plagues insurance markets: Nearly 3 million Californians whose jobs offer health coverage nonetheless turn it down because they think they won't need it; this leaves a less healthy group in the insurance pool, which forces insurers to raise premiums. Mr. Schwarzenegger's mandate would force healthy people back into the insurance pool and so bring premiums down. It would also give newly insured people access to preventive check-ups, reducing reliance on expensive emergency-room treatment.
"You can't require people to buy insurance without subsidizing those who can't afford it. Massachusetts started off with an advantage: It already had a fund to compensate hospitals that gave free care to uninsured patients. This system made the cost of free care for the uninsured visible and provided a ready source of cash to help citizens below 300 percent of the poverty line buy insurance. In California, by contrast, there is no compensation fund for hospitals, which therefore recoup costs by charging insured patients extra; as a result, the cost of insurance for the average Californian family is inflated by more than $1,000 per year, according to Peter Harbage and Len M. Nichols of the New America Foundation. So California's free-rider costs are real -- but hidden.
"Despite these caveats, Mr. Schwarzenegger deserves credit for his plan. For reasons of equity and efficiency, health coverage in the United States must become universal. Perhaps a shove from a former Mr. Universe will help the nation to get there."
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