Is a public health insurance option essential? Only if we want healthcare reform to fail in Congress and flounder in practice. Rather than turning Uncle Sam into Uncle Sam, MD, we should learn from history and build on the success of Medicare Part D - the prescription drug benefit for senior citizens. Part D is the largest health entitlement program since Medicare was signed into law in 1965. It has a 90% + approval ratings among its users and the projected cost for the program is $117 billion lower over the next decade than experts estimated. When it comes to the federal government providing healthcare to millions of Americans- it can be done with satisfaction and budgetary prowess.
How? By adhering to free market principles. The success of Part D is due to its uniquely American hybrid nature. The federal government partnered with the pharmaceutical and insurance industries to offer senior citizens healthcare choice via free market competition. Rather than a one-size-fits-all government plan, Part D offers dozens of private sector plans offering Medicare-eligible Americans various options that best suit their personal healthcare situations. Uncle Sam doesn't design the programs or process the claims or dictate the formularies. Uncle Sam writes the check and sets the ground rules so that everyone has access to the medicines they need. And the same can happen for access to health insurance - but only when we purge ourselves of the notion of the "essential nature" of a "public" plan.
How? By adhering to free market principles. The success of Part D is due to its uniquely American hybrid nature. The federal government partnered with the pharmaceutical and insurance industries to offer senior citizens healthcare choice via free market competition. Rather than a one-size-fits-all government plan, Part D offers dozens of private sector plans offering Medicare-eligible Americans various options that best suit their personal healthcare situations. Uncle Sam doesn't design the programs or process the claims or dictate the formularies. Uncle Sam writes the check and sets the ground rules so that everyone has access to the medicines they need. And the same can happen for access to health insurance - but only when we purge ourselves of the notion of the "essential nature" of a "public" plan.
