Pres. Bush’s statements on health care and health insurance in the State of the Union (free subscription required) address left me somewhat confused about the President’s real objectives. While he advocated controlling the cost of care, he also strongly endorsed extending tax breaks for insurance and any individual expenditure on anything medical.
These two programs are contradictory. Reducing the consumer’s real cost of health care makes them less likely to reduce expenditures, thereby feeding medical inflation.
The central premise of the Bush plan appears to be a belief in the power of information and tax policy to encourage better decision making by health care consumers. This approach, known as consumer-directed health care, will do nothing to reduce health care inflation.
Bush also:
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