United States Should Implement Market-Based Health Care Reforms, Opinion Piece States

Although the quality of medical care in the United States is "the envy of the world," the nation's health care system is "in deep trouble," as a result of diminished competition due to poor federal tax policies, insurance regulation and barriers to entry, according to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by John Cogan, former deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget and a current senior fellow at the Hoover Institution; Glenn Hubbard, a Columbia University professor and former chair of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers; and Daniel Kessler, a Stanford University professor and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. To slow rising health care costs and the decrease the number of uninsured U.S. residents, the authors suggest:

• Reforming the tax status of employer-provided health care by making both employer-sponsored health insurance and out-of-pocket medical expenses tax deductible;
  
  
• Changing current rules governing health insurers to let firms offer "insurance plans on a nationwide basis, free from costly state benefit mandates and excessive regulations";
  
  
• Revising the process for determining the supply of new doctors to eliminate restrictions on the number of medical school entrants and residency positions;
  
  
• Providing direct subsidies to help the chronically ill purchase health insurance; and
  
  
• Promoting a market-based health care system that "puts consumers in charge," rather than a government-run system, which the authors say would "lead to less choice and a stifling of innovation."