Giuliani Pushes Competition To Reform U.S. Health Care

The U.S. "can reduce costs and improve the quality of care by increasing competition" and by "empowering patients and their doctors," presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) writes in a Boston Globe opinion piece.

He adds, "We can do it through tax cuts, not tax hikes." According to Giuliani, the Democratic presidential candidates support a "government-mandated model that looks for inspiration to the socialized medical systems," but "[i]nstead of being more like Europe, we need to be more like America."

The U.S. "has the best medical care in the world," but the health care system "is being dragged down by decades of government-imposed mandates, wasteful bureaucracy and massive distortions in the U.S. tax code," Giuliani writes.

"We need to begin by bringing fairness to the tax treatment of health care," Giuliani writes, adding that the current tax code system "penalizes millions ... who pay for insurance on their own and receive no tax benefit." He recommends implementation of his proposal to provide U.S. residents with tax deductions to purchase individual health insurance.

In addition, Giuliani recommends caps on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, adding, "Doctors and nurses who have devoted their lives to helping others are relocating or leaving the practice of medicine altogether because they literally can't afford the insurance against frivolous lawsuits."

He concludes, "The future of America's health care system lies in free-market solutions, not socialist models. ... That's the American way to reform health care" (Giuliani, Boston Globe, 8/3).

PBS' "The Charlie Rose Show" on Wednesday included a discussion with Giuliani about health care and other issues (Rose, "The Charlie Rose Show," PBS, 8/1). Video of the segment is available online.