The Little Health Care Funding Mechanism That Could Solve Our Big Crisis

The search for a political solution to provide efficient delivery of health care services so far has resulted in little more than acrimony and grandstanding.Efficiency, providing the greatest amount of service at the lowest cost, can be achieved either through market or public mechanisms, depending on the good or service. For market goods, like new cars, efficiency happens when knowledgeable consumers negotiate with providers in a competitive market. Public goods, like fire protection, are more efficiently provided by the public sector and paid for through taxation.While progressives prefer a public solution to health care, conservatives want a market-based system. What we have now with the Affordable Care Act and with the plan passed in the House recently is neither; both represent third-party payer systems with an ever increasing cost borne by the end user.  Continue reading...