Finished up a conference call about an hour ago with the
Giuliani people regarding the health care plan Hizzoner will
release tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it, for two reasons.
First, Giuliani appears to be surrounding himself with the right
people on health care. The health care advisors to Giuliani that
participated in the conference call included Mark McClellan, Sally
Pipes, David Gratzer, and Stephen Goldsmith—on health care, solid
free marketeers all.
Second, Carl Cameron of Fox News asked what cost containment
policies would be included in Giuliani’s proposal. I don’t recall
who answered the question, but the gist of the answer was that the
best type of cost containment is consumers getting value for their
money. To me, that meant letting choice and competition work to
drive prices down, like they do in markets that don’t feel the
heavy hand of government.
If that sort of thinking informs the entire Giuliani health care
proposal, then those who favor free markets in health care will
finally have something to cheer about in this presidential
election.
UPDATE: And if I really like the plan, I will do a write-up for
the Spectator. But only if I learn to spell Giuliani
first. No promises on that.
