Putting citizens, not government, in charge of health care.
America's doctors and medical institutions are the envy of the world. The level of expertise and the pace of innovation in U.S. health care are unmatched. Yet many Americans worry whether they will have access to medical care when they need it. The reason is that America's health insurance system does not function very well. Too many Americans lack health insurance, there are gaps in coverage, and costs are increasing at an alarming rate. Health insurance is usually not portable from job to job, and consumers have very little choice about what their insurance covers.
Unfortunately, the left has seized on the problem to push its own solutions, all of which involve more government control. With the implied promise of something for nothing, and few alternative solutions offered, they are gaining traction.
The nationalization of our health care would be a disaster for Americans of every age and income group. The innovation, high quality and advanced treatment techniques which characterize our current system would be degraded, and if the experience of other countries is any guide, rationing of care, especially at the end of life, would become the norm.
The conservative alternative to socialized medicine is to enact serious reforms in current tax and insurance law that would expand personal ownership and control of health insurance and transfer the control of health care dollars to individuals and families. These reforms would move today's bureaucracy-driven, heavily regulated third-party payment system to a new patient-centered system of consumer choice and real free-market competition.
