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As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to enter office and kick off his 100 days, health care reform is a top priority for many voters and for many Republicans in Congress. Whether this means a complete “Repeal and replace” overhaul, or a more gradual transition, only time will tell. In the interim, a record 700,000 people signed up on HealthCare.Gov in mid-December, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, trying to guarantee coverage for 2017.
James C. Capretta holds the Milton Friedman chair at AEI. From 2001 to 2004, he was an assistant director at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, where he was responsible for all health care, Social Security, welfare, and labor and education issues. He has also worked as a senior health policy analyst at the US Senate Budget Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, and was a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
He has a MA in public policy from Duke and a BA from Notre Dame.
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Wrong! With an HSA, the person can buy major medical coverage. Which has two benefits: It forces the buyer to shop for a plan, and it allows the markets to work.
The HSA can be charged by the state, not the federal government. Even better, convert Medicare, Medicaid, and VA care to HSA’s and see the market react–prices will drop like a rock.
Healthcare can not be a right, because slavery and involuntary servitude was ended with the 13th Amendment.
Thanks to both Jims: informative and well presented. Mr. Capretta is knowledgeable and articulate.
I suppose that healthcare can be a right in the same mode of the 2nd amendment. The government can’t prevent me from purchasing a firearm or purchasing healthcare. There is no obligation on the government to provide me free or subsidized firearms or healthcare.
The discussion was informative, but I think missed the point. The discussion was about access to health insurance and the cost of health insurance. The point we should be addressing is the cost of, and access to, healthcare. Conflating health insurance with healthcare is a mistake. All insurance does is inflate the cost of healthcare and shrink access.