Free-Market Health Reform

GOP legislators have introduced a healthcare reform plan based on market principles to challenge the governor's government run healthcare proposal.

Unfortunately that is going on in California, not Pennsylvania (at least yet). According to the Contra Costa Times this plan would

• Allow people to create tax-free spending accounts for health-related expenses;
• Invite out-of-state insurance companies to do business in California, a move they say would create competition and lower costs; and
• Give insurers flexibility to offer less expensive, scaled-back benefit plans tailored to young and healthy people who currently are uninsured.

If legislators in PA follow the advice of my testimony yesterday (and I think they are smart enough to recognize the wisdom of that), they will offer also offer free-market healthcare reforms as an alternative to RendellCare.