BuckeyeBlog

Senator Tom Coburn, who is also a doctor, has an excellent column in today’s New York Sun about health care:

Free-market thinkers have to make a clear and compelling case that the problems in our health care system do not represent a failure of markets, but a failure of government. While government’s role in health care has expanded � one out of two health care dollars is now spent by the government � health care has become more expensive, less efficient, and less accessible. Health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000 while inflation grew at 18% and wages grew by 20%. Meanwhile, the percentage of employers offering coverage has dropped 8% during the same period.Convincing consumers that government is the problem obviously will require more than statistics or sound policy, but an appeal to their gut level expectations. The fact is Americans expect choice, freedom, and security in every area of their lives except for two: health care and education. This dynamic represents both a challenge and an opportunity….

A market-based system that would unleash the power of innovation and competition in health care is within reach. A key reform would involve transferring health care tax benefits to individuals rather than employers. Mr. McCain’s plan would do that by providing every American with a tax credit of $2,500 per individual ($5,000 per family) to buy their own insurance plan. Switzerland, hardly a bastion of conservatism, has used a similar individual-based model where costs are 50% less than in America with better outcomes.

The Clinton and Obama plans, far from being harbingers of change, would institutionalize the worst aspects of today’s antiquated health care system, such as the World War II era employer-based, third party payer model. Both plans rely on old-fashioned government coercion and regulation in order to forcibly assimilate Americans into a government health care collective. And, ultimately, both plans would rely on rationing � letting patients die before their time � to control costs. As the Canadian Supreme Court said in 2005, “Access to a waiting list is not access to healthcare.”

Tags: Health care

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 4:13 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.