I started the Anti–Universal Coverage Club in part to make a point, but also because I was curious to see how many people agreed with its basic premises.
I’m pleased to report that such people do exist. As of today, I count 86 club members. Rather than list them all, I’ll run through just those who might be recognizable to the policy community. Affiliations are provided for identification purposes only and do not imply that any of those organizations agree with us. At all. Unless I list an organization by itself.
Nathan Benefield
Director of Policy Research
Commonwealth FoundationGreg Blankenship
President
Illinois Policy Institute
David Brown
Editor
Laissez Faire Books Blog
Joseph Coletti
Health Care Policy Analyst
John Locke Foundation
Karla Dial
Managing Editor
Health Care News
Paul Gessing
President
Rio Grande Foundation
John Graham
Director, Health Care Studies
Pacific Research Institute
Curly Haugland
Republican National Committeeman
North Dakota
Carla Howell
President
Center For Small Government
Arnold Kling
Economist/Blogger
Cato Institute/Library of Economics & Liberty
Frayda Levy
President
Moving Picture Institute
Mark Litow
Consulting Actuary
Milliman, Inc.
Michael Ostrolenk
Director of Government Affairs
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons
Tom Patterson
Chairman
Goldwater Institute
Jared Rhoads
Director
Lucidicus Project
James Rottet
Legislative Specialist
The Heartland Institute
Herbert Rubin
Professor
UCLA School of Medicine
Thomas Saving
Professor of Economics
Texas A&M University
Greg Scandlen
Founder
Consumers for Health Care Choices
Greg Schneider
Health Care Fellow
Flint Hills Center for Public Policy
Jeffrey Singer
Contributing Editor
Arizona Medicine
Henry Stern
Blogger
Insure Blog
Mary Katherine Stout
Vice President
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Andrew Sullivan
Journalist
The Atlantic Online
The club has received a fair number of favorable mentions from blogs I had heard of (Coyote Blog, MooreWatch.com, SPN Blog, and Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket) and some I had not (Blog of Bile, Chaos From Order, A Chequer-Board Of Nights & Days, Con Law Geek, DeadBeef.com, Health Care BS, I Was The State, and JasonPye.com).
Not everyone had a favorable reaction. Neil Versel’s Healthcare IT Blog described our one recruitment email as “unbelievably shocking.” Ezra Klein of The American Prospect wished us well in recruiting members, I think because he’s happy to have someone else compile his enemies list for him. Matthew Yglesias of The Atlantic Online congratulated me for starting the club but then deftly missed the point when he wrote, “I’m fairly certain that, politically, ‘we don’t care if you can’t afford health insurance’ is a losing slogan.”
Some members (not listed above) asked that I not use their real names because they feared giving offense — or even receiving offense, in the form of professional reprisals. Some think my name is spelled “Canon.” Others think my name is spelled “Tanner.” That’s fine. I’m just happy to have them aboard. I especially love that we have a Curly.
Not bad considering how little effort I’ve put into this.