Krugman gets to the point about the current need for a health care plan that deserves airtime and now. A step forward on this is Medicaid availability to people on Unemployment with no health coverage. This has been one of the most important steps Obama seemed to be making during the campaign; let's hope there is some action on it this year...On! BP

But helping families purchase health insurance as part of a universal coverage plan would be at least as effective a way of boosting the economy as the tax breaks that make up roughly a third of the stimulus plan ? and it would have the added benefit of directly helping families get through the crisis, ending one of the major sources of Americans? current anxiety.

Finally ? and this is, I suspect, the real reason for the administration?s health care silence ? there?s the political argument that this is a bad time to be pushing fundamental health care reform, because the nation?s attention is focused on the economic crisis. But if history is any guide, this argument is precisely wrong.

Don?t take my word for it. Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, has declared that ?you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.? Indeed. F.D.R. was able to enact Social Security in part because the Great Depression highlighted the need for a stronger social safety net. And the current crisis presents a real opportunity to fix the gaping holes that remain in that safety net, especially with regard to health care.

Paul Krugman
NY Times
1-30-09