Chomsky: Health bill sustains the system’s core ills

 

By Sahil Kapur

Monday, March 22nd, 2010 [print_link]

Chomsky

He’s a hero of many progressives, but his enthusiasm for the passage of health care reform legislation this weekend was fairly muted.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor added that it’s a damning referendum on American democracy that one of the most highly supported components of the effort nationally, the public insurance option, was jettisoned. He partly blamed the media for refusing to stress how favorably it’s viewed by the populace.

The provision has consistently polled well, garnering the support of sixty percent of Americans across the nation in a CBS/New York Times poll released in December, days after it was eliminated from the reform package. Democratic leaders deemed it politically untenable.

Chomsky: I would have ‘held my nose’ to pass health care