An article in today’s Columbia Missourian discusses Al Sharpton’s solution for reducing the gap between blacks and whites when it comes to health care services … universal health care:

Universal health care to me is the only way you are going to bridge the gap to guarantee all Americans health care, Sharpton said. The gap between black and white in health care in some areas is three-to-one in terms of services. The only way you are going to do that communally is with a universal health care plan that makes it all an even playing field. Unless that gap is closed, it will never be one truly American entity.

Health care in the African-American community is not as up to par as it is in the white community. But universal health care would bring everyone down to the same level. That won’t solve the problems in health care for anyone. As we have stated before at the Show-Me Institute, the U.S. health care system hasn’t been developed along free-market lines for decades.

The way to truly raise health care standards across the board is to open the market to everyone — not just a few HMOs, and especially not with the government maintaining centralized control of health care decisions. Pamela Hardin, first vice president of the Columbia branch of the NAACP, makes a great point that’s applicable not only to African-Americans, but to everyone:

It is the responsibility of citizens to educate themselves on health care programs.