It’s Not the Health Insurers, Stupid!

After three years of our own government trying to undermine the Affordable Care Act (with the percent of uninsured now rising as a result), it’s refreshing to hear politicians talking about getting the U.S. closer to universal coverage. The debate among the Democratic Presidential candidates is not about the feasibility of universal coverage but about Medicare for All (which as ProPublica explained, is neither really Medicare nor necessarily for all) versus more incremental approaches.

The favorite whipping boy in our current healthcare system is the health insurance industry. Candidates like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren decry the industry’s profits, arguing that we’d be much better off abolishing private health insurance. That appeals to many people because, really, who...