Straight Platform Politics

The Free Market And Health Care – Part 3

  “What Is the Free-Market Approach to Health Care Reform?” This is an article published on The CATO Institute on Health Care Reform. http://healthcare.cato.org/     The article lists seven reforms; we have reviewed the first four and will now look at the last three. See Part 2

Reform 5. “We also need to rethink medical licensing laws to encourage greater competition among providers.” Examining the history of enabling legislation in the health care system causes many people to conclude that much of the legislation was enacted to protect the profession and not the patient. See The Four-Party Health Care System series

Reform 6. “Congress should give Medicare enrollees a voucher, let them choose any health plan on the market, and let them keep the savings if they choose an economical plan. Medicare could even give larger vouchers to the poor and sick to ensure they could afford coverage.” This may encourage a healthier lifestyle in the elderly while improving competition among insurers.

Reform 7. “The expansion of ‘health status insurance’ would protect many of those with preexisting conditions.” (See the February 18, 2009 Policy Analysis by John H. Cochrane on the topic of health status insurance at http://cato.org/ )

There have been good health care reforms proposed by a number of people and organizations. Many of these reforms would not be costly. But, are Congress and the President listening?

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The Free Market And Health Care – Part 2

“What Is the Free-Market Approach to Health Care Reform?” is an article published by the Cato Institute. http://healthcare.cato.org/ The article lists seven reforms to our health care system that would improve health care access, quality, and cost.

Cato Institute’s mission states that the organization promotes policies based on limited government, free markets, individual liberty, and peace. The Cato philosophy supports “a uniquely American solution, one that builds on free markets, competition, and choice.”

We will continue our look at each proposed reform. See Part 1

Reform 3. “Changing from employer to individual insurance requires changing the tax treatment of health insurance.” Employer-provided insurance gives the employed a significant tax advantage over the self-employed. The health insurance of the former is not taxable income while that of the latter is. This is not fair and must be changed. The article recommends that “[w]orkers should receive a standard deduction, a tax credit, or, better still, large Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for the purchase of health insurance, regardless of whether they receive it through their jobs or purchase it on their own.”

Reform 4. “We need to increase competition among both insurers and health providers. People should be allowed to purchase health insurance across state lines.”

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