What do health care reform and drinking water have in common? Just as we spend more than any nation in the developed world on health care, Americans spend over $15 billion a year on bottled water.
Now bottled water may be expensive and plastic bottles may be bad for our general, planetary health. But this is America and we have a private market and if we allow companies to sell water and you want to buy it, that's your right. But we still need public tap water. Millions of Americans can't afford bottled water. Others just prefer tap. And pretty much all of us when we brush our teeth or drink from a water fountain or order a glass of water at a restaurant are relying on good ol' fashioned public water.
In other words, for reasons of public health and equity and just having a fall-back option in case the store runs out of Poland Springs, it's important we have tap water and that choice.
Health care reform is really no different.
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