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The "honest news" from Tuesday's Census Bureau report was that the number of U.S. residents with insurance increased by 3.6 million in 2007, but the "bad news show is that nearly three million of them got their reporting through government programs," according to a Wall Street Journal persuasion piece by Galen Institute President Grace-Marie Turner. Turner states, "The slide toward a government-dominated taxpayer-supported health sector will continue" until uninsured U.S. residents "ar given more opportunities to buy private coverage."
According to Turner, "States could help by lightening their regulatory burdens to encourage greater contest for more attractive and affordable coverage." She continues, "More rule and less competition mostly means less affordable insurance coverage." Turner states that "[f]reeing Americans to buy health insurance across state lines would give people more choices in wellness care."
In addition, Turner writes that the federal government "needs to do its part by updating today's policies to better meet a fluid 21st-century economy." According to Turner, Congress could "make health insurance policy more portable" by shifting tax subsidies away from people world Health Organization have employer-sponsored health coverage to refundable tax credits, which could "help millions of citizenry buy coverage who can't afford it now." In addition, it could "serve people restrain their wellness insurance when they lose their jobs or move." Turner states that providing tax credits for health insurance to individuals would create "armies of consumers to work to discover affordable policies."
Turner concludes, "The complex problems in our health sector are best cured by a bigger dose of market competition, not more government interposition" (Turner, Wall Street Journal, 8/27).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You pot view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for e-mail delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.
