December 27, 2010
Two Views of Health Law
To the Editor:
Re “In Health Law, Old Arguments Get New Airing,” by David Leonhardt (Economic Scene, front page, Dec. 15):
It is interesting to compare Ronald Reagan’s argument opposing Medicare as “socialized medicine,” a program that would take away the freedom of “our children and our children’s children,” with the words of one of his heroes.
In 1944 Winston Churchill, while still prime minister, said that “our policy is to create a national health service in order to ensure that everybody in the country irrespective of means, age, sex or occupation shall have equal opportunities to benefit from the best and most up-to-date medical and allied services available.”
Humphrey Taylor
New York, Dec. 15, 2010
The writer is chairman of the Harris Poll.
