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December 11th, 2009 2:15 pm
An Alternative to Being the Party of “No”

The Cato Institute has a terrific critique on the Democrats’ comprehensive health care “reform” bill.  Throughout the article runs a description of the expansive interpretation given to the U.S. Constitution’s Interstate Commerce Clause by the Supreme Court, and further stretched by Congress.   The best part though is a counter-proposal for increasing competition in the health insurance market while lowering costs.

If Congress were interested in using the commerce clause for its intended purpose, we would be debating the Health Care Choice Act, which would permit the interstate purchase of individual health policies. The Democrats, however, bottled up that bill in committee.

They would rather exploit the cartelization of health insurance in selected states to argue for a government-run insurance company. Never mind that a major reason for those cartels is the prohibition against purchasing insurance across state lines.

The Health Care Choice Act is an elegant piece of legislation designed to allow health insurance carriers to sell – and consumers to purchase – plans across state lines.  Of course, there are federalism concerns about allowing different states to regulate according to their own policy preferences.  Then again, the Health Care Choice Act does give the GOP something to support in the health reform debate.  Additional commentary on the proposal is available here.

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