THE CLINTON PLAN - A SALUTE TO AMERICAN PLURALISM

The strength of President Bill Clinton's health reform proposal lies i n its commitment to universal, portable health insurance. To enhance t he political appeal of his plan, however, the president has forged a c ompromise between two divergent ethical precepts: (1) that health care is a social good to be made available to all Americans, on equal term s, at a financial burden roughly proportional to a household's income; and (2) that health care is a private good to be financed by househol ds with premiums that may impose a much heavier financial burden on th e poor than on the wealthy, even after public subsidies for the poor. The price of that compromise is enormous complexity, which is probably unavoidable in these United States.