By Jeff Spiers
Like many good citizens, I am in the midst of evaluating presidential candidates and their proposals to address health care concerns. As a lifelong conservative Republican, and as a career employee benefits consultant, my focus is on the repeal of ObamaCare. What the candidates are proposing is of great interest to me personally and professionally. The three candidates' plans, though, lack real substance, relying on bumper-sticker platitudes that make better sound bites than health care policy. Yes, repealing ObamaCare is the ticket to the dance floor, but what comes next should be of greater interest.
Among Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich, all three advocate practically identical treatment of health insurance in the post-ObamaCare world: allow the purchase of health insurance policies across state lines. The logic is that a resident of California is subject to mandated insurance benefits that have an enormous cost in terms of premiums. Since other states have fewer mandates, we may reason that the same policy (sans California mandates) necessarily costs less elsewhere. By allowing a California resident to purchase a health policy from, say, Arizona, voilà! -- health insurance costs will go down as a result of increased interstate health care insurance competition. Moreover, savvy state legislatures wishing to increase policy tax revenues will clamor to remove costly mandates to gain price competitiveness. What a bargain! We all benefit from a cornucopia of political and economic goodness.
Like many good citizens, I am in the midst of evaluating presidential candidates and their proposals to address health care concerns. As a lifelong conservative Republican, and as a career employee benefits consultant, my focus is on the repeal of ObamaCare. What the candidates are proposing is of great interest to me personally and professionally. The three candidates' plans, though, lack real substance, relying on bumper-sticker platitudes that make better sound bites than health care policy. Yes, repealing ObamaCare is the ticket to the dance floor, but what comes next should be of greater interest.
Among Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich, all three advocate practically identical treatment of health insurance in the post-ObamaCare world: allow the purchase of health insurance policies across state lines. The logic is that a resident of California is subject to mandated insurance benefits that have an enormous cost in terms of premiums. Since other states have fewer mandates, we may reason that the same policy (sans California mandates) necessarily costs less elsewhere. By allowing a California resident to purchase a health policy from, say, Arizona, voilà! -- health insurance costs will go down as a result of increased interstate health care insurance competition. Moreover, savvy state legislatures wishing to increase policy tax revenues will clamor to remove costly mandates to gain price competitiveness. What a bargain! We all benefit from a cornucopia of political and economic goodness.
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