re: #331 Belafon

Universal health care is needed. But it wouldn’t have prevented Trump and Boris Johnson from ignoring the issue until it was too late, many deaths occurring, and hospitals being overwhelmed, because a crisis like this requires a country level response.

Nations with robust universal health care systems like Italy, Spain, and France have been overwhelmed. No country is prepared to deal with a lethal pandemic — and we don’t know ultimately how lethal it will actually turn out.

The way to stop it is to prevent it from becoming a pandemic in the first place. And a President Clinton (or even a President Cruz) may have been able to intervene early enough to stop the spread. The rest of the world has relied on our taking the lead — though after Trump, that is no longer be true — and there is no country now with the authority or the respect that can address this crisis or future ones. And there will be another but more deadly pandemic in our future.