We Need a National Market for Health Insurance

Much to our surprise, the Census Bureau reported yesterday that the number of people in the U.S. with health insurance actually increased by 3.6 million last year. That's the good news. The bad news is that nearly three million of them got their coverage through government programs. The slide toward a government-dominated, taxpayer-supported health sector will continue unless the 45.7 million Americans who don't have insurance now are given more opportunities to buy private coverage.

New Census Numbers Show Health Insurance Shift Toward Government Programs

It sounds promising that the number of uninsured decreased last year to 45.7 million, according to the latest Census Bureau report. Unfortunately, that’s not the whole story. Of the 3.6 million who gained health insurance, nearly 3 million of them got coverage through a government program – taking America in the wrong direction. Unless we reverse this slide and modernize private insurance, more people will rely on their fellow taxpayers for coverage.

Health Care Reforms Can Succeed

Paperwork Would Impede Health Reform

Nearly 98,000 Iowans with health insurance that's compatible with a health savings account could get slapped with new paperwork requirements from Congress. Created in 2004, HSAs are a proven way to make insurance more affordable and to give people more control over their health spending. Today, more than 6 million Americans have these plans, and thanks to HSAs, 1.6 million Americans have left the ranks of the uninsured.

How Good Is Our Health Care System?

Bashing the American health care system has become a cottage industry. On the big screen, we've seen John Q and Sicko. At the bookstore, highly touted best-sellers lambasting the system seem to hit the shelves every month. On the opinion pages and on the cable news networks, pundits declare that the American system is in crisis and an embarrassment.

It's Hard to See Doctors Favoring Less Pay, Care, More Paperwork

Nearly six in ten U.S. doctors say they now favor legislation to establish national health insurance, according to a new survey, but doctors may be a bit less enthusiastic if they knew more about where such a system would take us. Touted as the “largest survey ever conducted among doctors on the issue of health care financing reform,” the results were published in the prestigious Annals of Internal Medicine and have since garnered a great deal of media attention.

Massachusetts Health Reform

Hidden Health Costs

The Times' lead article, "Even the Insured Feel the Strain of Health Costs" (May 4), perpetuates the myth that employers are largely paying for their workers' health insurance. This benefit is actually part of a worker's overall compensation package, but if the employer writes the check, it doesn't show up as taxable income to the employee (courtesy of Section 106 of the Internal Revenue Code).