If you want to see a health insurance reform plan that actually will lower health care costs and increase access take a look at today’s Wall Street Journal. John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods lays out a reform plan that reduces the role of government in the provision of heath care and health insurance, will increase consumer choice, and probably improve health outcomes. It is based on the Health Savings Account (HSA) plan that Whole Foods has for its own employees.
Mackey’s proposals are based on sound economic principles, namely that if you want lower costs and increased access to any product, including health care, you should promote policies that increase supply and enhance competition. And that’s exactly what Mackey’s proposals do. Included in his list of ideas are tort reform, elimination of mandates, and equal tax treatment for employer provided and individually purchased health insurance. Here is a link to the entire article with all the recommendations and the arguments for them.
The only thing that I would add to his list is the elimination of all Certificate of Need laws. These laws restrict the supply of hospitals, nursing homes, limit hospital expansions, including services like emergency rooms sevices, and restrict the availability of special equipment such as MRI machines. For a detailed description of the kind of damage being inflicted on the consumers of health care by the state of North Carolina and other states that still have these laws meant solely to special interests see this study published by the JLF in 2005.
