Universal Coverage Is Within Reach, If the Pain Is Shared Equitably

Since the uninsured are overwhelmingly low-wage workers, they probably can't pay as much as individuals now contribute overall, Thorpe notes. That means a sensible plan would allocate more of the cost to government and business (though not as great a share as California is imposing). One promising model might be the plan that Bodaken of Blue Shield proposed last winter that would impose a mandate on employers to provide coverage, a mandate on individuals to purchase coverage (which solves the problem of the young and healthy skewing the risk pool by opting out), and provide government subsidies for both.

In an economy that already spends $1.6 trillion on health care, the cost of universal coverage is almost trivial: about $75 billion more a year. But it won't be possible to find those funds unless business, individuals and government all shoulder their share of the load.

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Ronald Brownstein's column appears every Monday. See current and past Brownstein columns on The Times' Web site at www.latimes.com/brownstein.