Health Care and More Health Care

If you’ve read the opinion pages of the Albuquerque Journal recently, you’ve probably noticed that health care has been discussed on an almost daily basis. Representative Dan Foley, for his part, had an article today that started off strong by explaining why government is not the best provider of health care. Foley is absolutely correct when he writes that “with a finite number of dollars available, the government will have to decide who gets how much health care and how much health care that should be.”
Unfortunately, Foley then goes on to outline a plan to provide “universal coverage” that sounds suspiciously like the plan adopted by Massachusetts. Unfortunately, the plan adopted by Massachusetts is quickly turning out to be a costly failure.
Interestingly enough, in the Journal’s business outlook section, another article called “Why Health Savings Accounts Save Money,” appeared (subscriptinon required). This excellent article outlines the simplicity and relative ease with which consumer-driven health care can cure what ails our health care system. Rather than embarking on universal coverage boondoggles, Richardson and the Legislature should focus on ways to expand consumer-driven solutions like HSA’s.