EXCEPT THAT PUBLIC POLICY...:

Why not try ownership?: Reform bill too ambitious for real problem (Deroy Murdock, July 19, 2009, Washington Times)

Rather than endorse such big-government overkill, pro-freedom members of Congress should promote a simple concept: Let every American own and control an individual health insurance policy that can be transported among jobs, self-employment, graduate school and life's other twists and turns. [...]

What Americans need is a thriving market in individually owned and controlled health insurance plans. When you book an airline flight, Priceline.com does not ask, "What is your group number?" You decide when and where to fly and then buy your ticket. At least with personal travel, your boss does not fund this. The same is true for car insurance, home insurance and often life insurance. Why must Americans shop for health insurance at work rather than online or through independent agents?

Health care reform should give Americans the option of using money tax-free to purchase whatever kinds of health insurance make them happy. If employers offer such plans, lovely. If not, individuals should be encouraged, through tax-free health savings accounts, to buy their own policies and maintain them throughout their careers. This dramatically would reduce the tragedy of "job lock," whereby employees put up with bosses and duties they cannot stand merely to keep employer-furnished health coverage.

As Rep. John Shadegg, Arizona Republican, has argued, Americans also should be free to buy health plans across state lines. Today, such policies usually must be purchased within consumers' own states, subject to state-level insurance regulations. If New York residents may arrange home loans through Illinois-based banks, for example, why are we allowed to buy health plans only through insurers that operate in the Empire State?

...ought to disfavor the purchase of comprehensive health coverage by the healthy, not abet it.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 19, 2009 6:42 AM