The American Spectator

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Romney reportedly wants to reform Medicaid the way Congress reformed welfare in 1996, by giving each state a lump-sum payment (rather than payments that increase in tandem with the state's contribution) and greater flexibility to spend those funds.

Where welfare reform aimed to reduce dependence on government, however, Romney appears to want states to use the added flexibility to make more Americans dependent on government for their health care.

Romney also wants to use those federal payments as leverage to encourage states to deregulate health insurance. Deregulation is essential: state regulations increase the cost of health insurance by an estimated 15 percent.

But if a President Romney strong-arms the states into deregulating, what's to stop the next president from strong-arming the states into increasing health insurance regulation? Or from regulating health insurance himself?

Health insurance deregulation has to happen at the state level. If national politicians want to help, they can give employers and consumers the right to purchase health insurance licensed by the state of their choice. That's one free-market reform that neither Romney nor Giuliani has fully endorsed.

Hopefully, that will come in time, and Romney's step in the right direction will signal the decline of big-government conservatism in health care.

topics:
Trade, Health Care, Hillary Clinton, Medicaid, Law, Conservatism