Cover the Sick and Poor, Not the Uninsured

Micha Gisser, a senior fellow with the Rio Grande Foundation, had an excellent article on health care in the Albuquerque Journal last week. In his article, Gisser explained that despite a relatively widespread lack of insurance in New Mexico, no hospital denies patients essential coverage. And, while having large numbers of uninsured is less than ideal, nationalized healthcare is not needed to resolve this problem. In fact, Gisser points out, “President Bush’s proposal to cap the tax deduction for employer-sponsored health insurance at $15,000 and give people the same tax break to buy insurance regardless of whether they get it from an employer or elsewhere,” would have a tremendous impact on the ability of individuals to obtain health coverage.
Gisser clarifies once and for all that mandatory health care as Massachusetts has done is based on the absurd assumption that we will criminalize lack of insurance. Gisser writes, “Suppose New Mexico passes a law insisting that everyone purchase health insurance from any of the private insurance companies. Are we willing to enforce the law by sending the ‘disobedient’ head of a nonpoor household to prison?”
As I wrote a few weeks ago, there are no “easy” health care solutions.