Tuesday, September 29, 2009

GOP's competitiveness conundrum

"Both parties agree that Congress should impose new regulations on the health insurance industry, and Republicans say they share the Democrats’ goal of expanding coverage. So the central fight is about how to slow the growth of ever-escalating health care costs and constrain rapidly rising insurance premiums.

In this tussle, Democrats, by pushing an optional, self-sustaining, government-run insurer to keep private insurers honest, may be offering a more clear-cut proposal for increasing competition than their free-market counterparts on the other side of the aisle.

Whereas the Democrats’ plan would operate in the existing marketplace, many Republicans would like to revamp that marketplace completely — something that makes most Americans queasy. Ideas range from dismantling Medicaid to upending the system of employer-provided health care so that insurers cater to the people they cover, rather than the companies that pay for that coverage."

1 comment:

TJE said...

Interesting article. One might argue that radical market based reforms with subsidies for low income would be most effective. But these would be subject to the same demagoguery facing ObamaPelosiBaucusCare.