Friday, July 17, 2009

Single payer or individual buyers?

So everyone else has a health insurance plan. And while I think that a single payer system is unlikely to actually occur, there are some potential improvements that would be useful for Congress to focus on.

· If people are going to be forced to buy health insurance ala Massachusetts, then let people buy across state lines-a national market encourages pricing efficiencies and restricts the amount of political influence that can get bought at the state level. Illinois, we’re looking at you here.
· Give poor and working class people tax credits (vouchers) to buy insurance.
· De-couple health insurance from employers-the associated corporate savings would have a salutary effect on the unemployment rate.
· Greater access to pre-existing health savings accounts for use on less immediately necessary procedures-cosmetic dentistry and the like.

So that’s what I think-in general, I think incremental change is lot more likely to not produce dislocation among people who can least afford it-Medicare recipients, the mentally ill, and folks unfortunate enough to have rare yet serious illnesses.

Next time, we’ll talk about how the single purchaser system is going to stifle innovation and the knock-on effects around the world.