The American Spectator

Health care is wasteful and expensive, but as P.J. O’Rourke said, “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”

Though far from perfect, Sen. John McCain’s $2,500 per individual tax credit will at least steer us away from employer-based health care, while encouraging competition. McCain’s plan would also go a long way toward reducing health care costs, improving quality, and increasing access to care by getting consumers more involved, and the government less so.

If the McCain plan sinks like a lead zeppelin it will be because most Americans have deluded themselves into believing that they are not paying for their employer-based health insurance, when in fact, like their income tax, it comes out of their paycheck.

I remain convinced that the most effective way to cure Americans of a desire for socialized medicine is to give them a healthy dose of good old-fashioned government bureaucracy. It certainly cured me.