I guess health care is the government’s business after all
Oct 20, 2014, 6:41 AM | Updated: 7:28 am
The Ebola story has turned the usual debate upside-down.
Usually critics accuse the government for interfering too much. This time it stands accused of not interfering enough.
You remember back when the president was appointing Czars during the economic contagion of 2009. You had critics saying enough with all the czars.
“Nowhere in our constitution can you find the word ‘czar.'”
But on the Ebola issue critics like Senator John McCain criticized him for not appointing a czar.
“We don’t know exactly who’s in charge. There has to be some kind of czar,” said McCain.
Of course, when the President finally did appoint the czar, his choice immediately took flak for being merely a problem-solver instead of a doctor.
While at the very same time, Dr. Thomas Freiden, director of the CDC, got flak for being merely a doctor instead of a problem-solver.
But out of this, there’s one patch of common ground.
Nobody seems willing to trust the private health care system, like the hospital in Dallas where those nurses became infected, to handle this. Everybody thinks the feds should take charge.
Even Senator Ted Cruz, who a year ago was leading a cutoff in funding that shut down the federal government, came out over the weekend in favor of giving the president a blank check.
“We need to devote whatever resources needed to contain this Ebola outbreak.”
Now, instead of liberating health care from the government’s grip, everybody wants to get it in a bear hug.