Heart Happy (cathy_edgett) wrote,
Heart Happy
cathy_edgett

Blogs - Malcolm Gladwell

Jeff calls me this morning to inform me that Malcolm Gladwell, author of "Blink" and "Tipping Point," now has a blog. He reverses his position on health care today. That is the great thing about a blog. You can go back and forth. You can check out his blog personally, but I thought this little piece was succinct and clear.


Malcolm Gladwell:

Why have I changed my mind? Some of my reasons are in the piece on moral hazard I wrote for the New Yorker last summer.

http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_08_29_a_hazard.html

The bigger reason is simply that I woke up one day and realized what much smarter people than me (Adam Gopnik) realized a long time ago, which is that the idea of employer-based health care is just plain stupid--and only our familiarity with it and sheer inertia prevent us from rising up in rebellion. I always try to think of a suitable analogy and fail. The closest I can come is to imagine if we had employer-based subways in New York. You could ride the subway if you had a job. But if you lost your job, you would either have to walk or pay a prohibitively expensive subway surcharge. Of course, if you lost your job you would need the subway more than ever, because you couldn't afford taxis and you would need to travel around looking for work. Right? In any case, what logical connection is there between employment and transporation? If you can answer that question, you can solve the riddle of the U.S. health care system. And maybe I'll change my mind back.
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