Tom Murray, president of The Hastings Center, discussed how and why health reform should reflect our values in an interview on NPR’s Science Friday.

As Americans, we value a health care system where people are treated fairly. We expect that if we work hard and pay our taxes, we’ll have access to that most basic human right — getting care when we need it. But for millions of people in this country who work hard and pay their fair share of taxes, that’s not the reality…

The American health reform initiative of 2009 has provoked the debate that couldn’t shoot straight. The issues and subjects have been wildly misdirected. In so many ways, these past few months of health reform controversy have shown the immaturity and ignorance of American politics. And I don’t just mean the “death squads.”…

Let me start with Bruce Jennings’ fascinating opening essay on liberty. Given reform opponents’ frequent appeals to personal freedom both in specific cases–fears about government intrusion into end of life care, most notably–and in broader “the government is controlling your body” terms, establishing that health care reform is part and parcel of American ideals of freedom is absolutely essential, and so arguments like Jennings’ are absolutely critical to winning the debate…

The atmosphere was tense. Representatives of the insurance industry were huddled in one corner. The other members of the Task Force on Genetic Information and Insurance, mostly academics and consumer representatives, were bunched across the room. As chair of the task force, I was in the middle, trying to make sense of the disagreement, which was growing more intense by the minute.