Audio By Carbonatix
University of Miami’s president and America’s longest-serving secretary of health and human services, Donna Shalala, always keeps an eye on what’s going on with her former office. After a notable setback, President Obama is trying to get Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius confirmed to fill the role, and Shalala went on Federal News Radio to offer some advice to the incoming secretary.
But Shalala says there’s very little hope that Sebelius, or anyone for that matter, will be able to bring about a single-payer health system:
We’re going to close the gap for those that don’t have health insurance
through a variety of mechanisms. Some of it is expanding existing
programs and some of it is creating a new structure that will allow
people to choose the plan they want. If they need a subsidy, they’ll
get the subsidy, but they’ll have to take the responsibility to choose
the plan and to pay what they can for health insurance, and their
employer will have to take responsibility for either providing health
care directly or providing a payment so that they can get health care
from a central mechanism. It will not be a government program; it will
be a government-organized program.
Listen to the full interview here.
