It was a Republican idea; now it's "socialism"

An article by Paul Starr in The American Prospect (October 2009) simply blows away all the Republican rhetoric criticizing Democratic plans for health care reform as radical, socialistic, and whatever else is at hand by showing how most of the controversial issues were at one time part of plans advanced by Republicans.

1. In the late 1940s when Harry Truman proposed a single-payer plan, Republicans countered with a system of government-subsidized, private nonprofit insurance, with premiums scaled to people's incomes.

What a welcome addition that Republican initiative would be to today's proposed bills.

2. In the 1960s when Democrats pushed for government sponsored hospital insurance for the elderly, Republicans countered with a plan for voluntary insurance for physicians' bills for the elderly.

The Democratic proposal became Medicare Part A; the Republican proposal Medicare Part B.

3. In 1974 Nixon send to Congress legislation for universal coverage that relied on private insurance to cover the employed and a federal program to cover the rest of the population. National health insurance, Nixon declared, was "an idea whose time has come in America."

This got lost in the Watergate scandal; otherwise he might likely have been joined in this bill by Ted Kennedy, and

we could be celebrating the 35th anniversary of universal health care in the United States

instead of fighting over the very same issue.

As Starr also points out, Republicans offered these plans only when Democrats were pressing for reform, and their plans may have been only for show.

But at least they felt the need to make a pretense of getting on board, instead of screaming "Socialism" and far worse.

My, how times have changed. How the Republican Party has changed. And how much less the Democrats are having to settle for than we thought we could get . . . way back when.

Ralph