Robin Toner

in the NYT writes about how health care concerns are slowly coming into focus now that the "war" has faded into the background.

Health care concerns worry more people than the deteriorating job market. Of course, the lack of coverage or undercoverage is a direct result of the worsening economy. Companies are either laying off people or else they want to cut costs by not providing health insurance at all or else flimsy plans.

People from foreign countries which have national health care must shake their heads at the sorry mess of health care in this country. They must wonder why in the world health coverage is for people who can afford it or who have decent jobs rather than it being a necessity like schools, police, and fire protection. We are so far behind other countries in this regard, and we will become worse because of our refusal to address the problem.