Thanks to Dr. Don McCanne of Physicians for a National Health Program who compiled the bulk of this sampling of articles reacting to last week’s Supreme Court hearings examining the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. At the bottom, I have added a few more. The articles run the political spectrum – liberal, conservative and in between. You can either read one, a few, or all of them. What is clear is that everyone acknowledges what we single-payer activists have been saying all along – that Medicare for all is the least expensive and most equitable way to provide health care to all Americans.

Paul Mulshine, The Star Ledger, March 25, 2012 – Obamacare health-insurance exchanges are set up to fail

Julian Pecquet, The Hill, March 26, 2012 – Kucinich: Single-payer healthcare on its way regardless of how Supreme Court rules

Peter Morici, SunSentinel, March 26, 2012 – Overturning health care law could lead to a single-payer system

Robert Reich, The Huffington Post, March 26, 2012 – Health Care Jujitsu

Reid Cherlin, GQ, March 27, 2012 – Take It From Me: Defending Obamacare is Super-Hard

George Zornick, The Nation, March 27, 2012 – If the Mandate Fails, Single Payer Awaits

Ezra Klein, Bloomberg, March 28, 2012 – Individual Mandate Is Ryan Tax Credit by Other Name

Meghna Chakrabarti, WBUR, March 28, 2012 – Lawmakers Propose Single-Payer System For Mass.

E.J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post, March 28, 2012 – Judicial activists in the Supreme Court

Emil Guillermo, San Francisco Chronicle, March 28, 2012 – My Mom, the Supreme Court, and the Affordable Care Act

Michael D. Shear, The New York Times, March 28, 2012 – If Health Law Is Overturned, What Will Liberals Do?

Josh Barro, Forbes, March 28, 2012 – How Obamacare’s Rejection Would Lead to Single Payer

Timothy Noah, The New Republic, March 28, 2012 – Single-Payer Briar Patch

Cathy Young, Newsday, March 29, 2012 – What’s really wrong with Obamacare

Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post, March 29, 2012 – A stronger prescription for what ails health care

Renne Landers, Health Affairs Blog, March 29, 2012 – On The Individual Mandate: Towards A Single-Payer System Or Public Option?

Ezra Klein, The Washington Post, March 29, 2012 – If Obamacare is overturned, will that lead to single payer? And would that be a good thing?

Scripps Howard News Service, March 29, 2012 – RedBlueAmerica: Will ‘Obamacare’ survive?

Mark Mardell, BBC News, March 29, 2012 – What if Supreme Court strikes down Obama healthcare act?

Maggie Fox, National Journal, March 29, 2012 – After the Ruling

Emily P. Walker, MedPage Today, March 29, 2012 – ACA Alternatives Waiting in the Wings

George Lauer, California Healthline, March 29, 2012 – Experts: Medicaid Expansion Will Stand; Mandate’s Fate Unclear

Noah Rothman, Mediaite, March 29, 2012 – Chris Matthews, Ezra Klein Identify Strategy To Impose ‘De Facto Single Payer System’

Beth Hawkins, MinnPost, March 29, 2012 – Growth & Justice lays out its case for Minnesota single-payer health care

David Frum, The Daily Beast, March 29, 2012 – The Wall Street Journal: Unwitting Advocates of Single-Payer

Karen Dolan, The Huffington Post, March 29, 2012 – If Health Care Reform Falls, Look in the Mirror

Steve Erickson, The American Prospect, March 30, 2012 – Single-Payer or Bust

And…

Uwe E. Reinhardt, The New York Times, Economix, March 30, 2012 – The Supreme Court and the National Conversation on Health Care Reform

Reader Comment:

By Don McCanne
San Juan Capistrano, CA

The intense attention being given to the constitutionality of the individual mandate and the severability of guaranteed issue and community rating and to the constitutionality of the Medicaid expansion superficially seems to have detracted from the fundamental issue of whether or not the Affordable Care Act itself should serve as a durable model for health care reform.

With the best possible outcome of the Supreme Court deliberations, we’ll still be faced with uninsurance (at least 26 million uninsured), underinsurance (low actuarial value plans with spartan essential benefits) and unaffordability (lack of effective systemic cost containment).

Right now we are seeing a surge in commentaries declaring that we will end up with single payer (Medicare for all) if the mandate and guaranteed issue and community rating are struck down by the Supreme Court, simply because that’s the only rational financing option left for us.

We will, in fact, end up with single payer, but not because of the pending Supreme Court decision. We will adopt a single payer system simply because we will not be able to continue to tolerate uninsurance, underinsurance and unaffordability.

Additional articles…

Scott Keyes, ThinkProgress, March 30, 2012 – GOP Attorney General Suing Over Obamacare Supports Single-Payer: ‘I Trust The Government More’

Sahil Kapur, TalkingPointsMemo, April 2, 2012 – Why Overturning ‘Obamacare’ Could Lead To Single-Payer

Miles Mogulescu, The Huffington Post, April 3, 2012 – Conservatives and Liberals Agree: Medicare for All Would Be Constitutional

Robert I. Field, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 5, 2012 – Is public option the last one?

Sylvia@californiaonecare.org