The Heritage Foundation - Leadership for America

Make a list of the things you think government does really well. Almost everyone can agree it is pitifully short. Why, then, would we want government to run something as important as health care?

The argument for a federal solution to affordable health care assumes the feds will do a good job, and is marked by a lack of understanding about what has made America the wealthiest country in history. Our meteoric rise was ignited by doing less, not more, when it came to regulating the choices people could make in their professional and personal lives.

Grace-Marie Turner, president of the Galen Institute, a health-care think-tank created after HillaryCare’s defeat in 1994, spoke at today’s Conservative Bloggers’ Briefing at Heritage. She estimates that tomorrow we could insure 12 million more people by lifting bans on state-to-state transfers of health insurance. Live in New Jersey but know you can get cheaper rates across the river in Philadelphia? Right now, your state does not allow you to do so.

Imagine if insurance companies knew they had steeper competition nearby. Wouldn’t they work to lower costs in order to lure more customers across state lines?

We want change in health care. Those who think bureaucracy drives change don’t appreciate the power of our economy to provide supply where there is demand. The price-controls, regulations and mandates sprinkled throughout Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance companies, and other public programs falsify the costs of the private market. As the people at Galen put it, “The health sector is part of our economy, and we know that in other sectors, competition works to give people more, and more affordable, choices. Choices that people value.”

With apologies to Jerry Maguire, “Let us help us.” Unleash the American entrepreneur and his motivated self. Let people choose where and how they receive their health care by providing comprehensive consumer-driven health care reform. That list about what government does well is short for a reason.