Improving Health Care Without Breaking the Bank

Those who understand economics understand that capitalism and free markets are the most efficient and fairest means of allocating resources in any society. Unfortunately, most people (including our elected officials) don’t necessarily understand that. Thus, we fall prey to those who would lead us to believe that some central planning agency will allocate resources more effectively than individuals and companies interacting in a free market. This was the thinking among economic planners in the old Soviet Union and it is the thinking behind New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s health care proposal.
In response to the Governor’s government planning model, the Rio Grande Foundation recently released an issue brief, “Cutting Costs and Improving Health Care in New Mexico,” that outlines several ways in which New Mexico could cut health care costs, improve quality, and improve upon its ranking as the state with the third-highest rate of uninsured in the nation.