Giuliani’s Health Care Choices

In the debate on how to fix health care, Sally Pipes of the Pacific Research Institute, says their is only one candidate who is offering anything besides higher taxes and further regulation of the market.She says Rudy Giuliani has differentiated himself by offering more choices through market based reforms. His plans offers two key reforms.

First, he would allow both individual and group benefits insurance plans to be deductible:

Putting individual insurance on a level playing field with group insurance will allow people to seriously compare the features and benefits of group versus individual insurance and make informed decisions.

Second, his plan would offer more choices by offering a national market where people can choose from providers across state lines. Currently, individuals must decide on a plan deemed acceptable by their own state:

Rather than force people to buy plans approved by their state, he’d allow people to shop anywhere. One reason why health insurance in some states is very expensive is because they can’t do so now.

These market based reforms rely on the individual to decide which plan best suits their needs rather than a universal system where the government provides a one size fits all program.