Our Health Policy Matters

“States and private markets, not the federal government, hold the key to improving our health care system.” Those are the words of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as he articulates his health reform vision on his campaign web site . U.S. health care costs are around $2.5 trillion. This money buys a lot of care, and pays a lot of salaries.  One out of every six workers in America relies on the health care industry for a paycheck.  Romney thinks that’s too big a cost for care. “At its core of this debate,” he writes (jarringly inarticulately for an official campaign web site), “is the question of what creates better patient outcomes and more efficiency: free enterprise and consumer-driven markets, or government management and regulation?” I realize that he wants us to answer “free enterprise and consumer-driven markets.” But in this case, that doesn’t happen to be true. The reasons why we have even a semblance of an affordable health care s...

“States and private markets, not the federal government, hold the key to improving our health care system.” Those are the words of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as he articulates his health reform vision on his campaign web site . U.S. health care costs are around $2.5 trillion. This money buys a lot of care, and pays a lot of salaries.  One out of every six workers in America relies on the health care industry for a paycheck.  Romney thinks that’s too big a cost for care. “At its core of this debate,” he writes (jarringly inarticulately for an official campaign web site), “is the question of what creates better patient outcomes and more efficiency: free enterprise and consumer-driven markets, or government management and regulation?” I realize that he wants us to answer “free enterprise and consumer-driven markets.” But in this case, that doesn’t happen to be true. The reasons why we have even a semblance of an affordable health care s...