The American political mainstream often frames universal health care as too expensive, too extreme, and, above all, impossible. Even while acknowledging that the exhausting jumble of private insurance, public programs, and government stopgaps is grossly inadequate, centrist Democrats advocate for incremental patches instead of systemic change.

Amy Finkelstein, award-winning Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist and MacArthur Fellow, argues that the mosaic of private and public insurance in the United States is costly, inefficient, and brutally inadequate for both uninsured and insured Americans. In their new book, We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care, Finkelstein and Stanford University economist Liran Einav lay out a blueprint for a health care plan that is universal, automatic, basic, and free — as well as a convincing case that universal health care is not only necessary but possible.

Sara Van Horn and Cal Turner spoke with Finkelstein for Jacobin about the current failures of health care in the United States, the political struggles that led to universal coverage in other high-income countries, and the historical evidence that the United States is already committed to providing health care to all.