President-elect Trump continues to baffle his most ardent critics. A recent example is his declaration to Washington Post reporters on Saturday night that “We’re going to have insurance for everybody.” As Forbes opinion editor Avik Roy has pointed out, for at least 17 years, Donald Trump has been an advocate of universal coverage.
As is his prerogative (and evidently his wont), President-elect Trump offered no real explanation of what he meant by this. He assured us “they’ll be beautifully covered” but likewise reassured Republicans in Congress “I don’t want single payer.” So let’s take a moment to ponder how his words can be parsed. This is especially important given that his nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Tom Price, “stopped short of saying all Americans should be covered” during his confirmation hearing yesterday.
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