Fellow Canadian F.H. Buckley caused a maelstrom in conservative circles last week when he called on President Trump to advance a single-payer model for U.S. health care. A chorus of conservatives were quick to condemn this marked departure from long-time right-wing orthodoxy. While the critics are correct that single payer is not the answer, Mr. Buckley is nevertheless posing the right question to guide meaningful and durable health-care reform.
This intellectual and political debate highlights the competing priorities and inherent trade-offs in health-care policy and the attendant challenge of reaching a legislative outcome with broad-based political support. The failure of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) has left a gaping wound in the Republican agenda — and, apparently, a schism among some conservative policy thinkers and pundits on how best to improve the American health-care system.
