On an international level I would go so far as to say these three liberal health care plans are all significantly to the right of basically even center-right party in the rest of the industrialized world on health care. “Tort reform” gets more play than single payer. If these constitute the “left flank” of the political discussion around the pressing issue of health care costs in America, we as a country are screwed.

David Walker is the president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, founded by billionaire financier Peterson as a think tank on fiscal issues. On CNBC’s “Squawk Box” recently, Walker seemed to long for a return to debtor’s prisons. If he’s nostalgic for debtor’s prison, the next step is to advocate the return of [...]