John Goodman of the
National Center for Policy Analysis tells us how to reform heath
care by setting people free. For example, number two is
setting patients free:
Many patients have difficulty seeing primary care physicians.
All too often, they turn to hospital emergency rooms, where
there are long waits and the cost of care is high. Part of the
reason is that third-party payer (insurance) bureaucracies
decide what services patients can obtain from doctors and what
doctors will be paid. To correct this problem, patients should
be able to purchase services not paid for by traditional health
insurance, including telephone and e-mail consultations and
patient education services. This can be done by allowing them
to manage more of their own health care dollars in a completely
flexible Health Savings Account.
Of course, before setting us free Congress must reject proposals
for a government medical takeover.
About the Author
Doug Bandow is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and the Senior Fellow in International Religious Persecution at the Institute on Religion and Public Policy. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is author of Beyond Good Intentions: A Biblical View of Politics (Crossway).
