A Private Sector Health Care Plan

Selwyn W. Becker, Forbes

Whether it’s a commodity or a right, coverage should be for everyone.

Until a country-wide debate and referendum determines whether health care is a commodity or a right, no optimally efficient system can be designed. At this point the U.S. has neither a free-market commodity system, nor is health care treated as a right. And in relation to gross national product, U.S. health care costs are larger in proportion than any other Western country, and they are rapidly increasing; furthermore, our nation, unlike many others, does not purchase the highest quality of care.

Many people agree that reform is necessary, but there is little agreement about the form it should take. The Obama administration’s proposed reform includes a public option, which has generated congressional as well as popular opposition. Many variations to the public option have emerged, including the latest, formation of insurance co-operatives, but none of them meet the stated objectives of President Obama: that coverage be extended to all who are currently uninsured and that initial costs to the federal government be eventually recovered by increases in the efficiency of health care delivery systems. It hardly seems likely that decentralized, mutually beneficial ownership systems can accomplish these aims, either. The co-ops would essentially be start-up insurance companies that would engender all the costs of start-up businesses competing for market share. They would have no benefits to scale and their overhead costs might very well exceed that of current private health care insurers. In no time one of the major benefits of the co-op structure, little or no bureaucracy, would disappear.

Rest of Article:Becker @ Forbes

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