Is written by business man David Goldhill (Democrat) in this month’s The Atlantic. The ~10,000 word article is entitled “How American Health Care Killed My Father“. The executive summary:
After the needless death of his father, the author, a business executive, began a personal exploration of a health-care industry that for years has delivered poor service and irregular quality at astonishingly high cost. It is a system, he argues, that is not worth preserving in anything like its current form. And the health-care reform now being contemplated will not fix it. Here’s a radical solution to an agonizing problem.
It takes a while to read, but is well worth it. It is as fair, balanced, and educational an assessment as I’ve ever read on the health care issue. And it presents a solution as bold and holistic as I’ve ever heard. John Schwenkler of The American Conservative calls this article “Maybe the Best Thing I’ve Read on Health Care Reform.” Schwenkler’s has a ten-point summary:
1. We spend too much money on health care.
2. We treat “health insurance” and “health care” as synonymous, but they shouldn’t be.
3. There is a massive moral hazard problem.
4. We’re the only ones who can pay.
5. Governments can’t do enough reduce costs.
6. Regulation limits competitiveness.
7. Medical providers work to serve the people who pay them, not the people in their care.
8. The costs of medical technologies are vastly inflated.
9. The present push for “comprehensive” reform will do nothing to solve the underlying problems.
10. The proper response is a shift toward consumer-driven care, with subsidies for the poor and a single program of truly catastrophic insurance available to all.
Who else is singing the praises of Goldhill’s proposals? The left-leaning Huffington Post linked to it, as did David Brooks (NY Times), as did the conservative Weekly Standard. And many others from both the left and the right, which in itself is impressive. If Obama went this way, I’d support it in a heartbeat.
Read the whole thing.
HT: JT