College Republican Federation of Virginia

John McCain got it right on health care today, outlining a health care reform plan in today’s NRO that correctly addresses the problems of the health insurance industry and prescribes precisely the right remedy: market competition and family control.  McCain wisely rebukes the government-run monopolies of Hillary- and Obama-Care as well as the government-created monopolies of plans that force people to buy insurance.  Instead, McCain offers a combination of Health Savings Accounts for paying premiums, tax credits that enable people to buy their own personal policy, and a Guaranteed Access Plan that would smooth the regulatory landscape of the interstate health insurance market.

If this plan doesn’t prove that John McCain understands the economy, then nothing does.  The HSA’s and personal tax credits stimulate competition and innovation in the health insurance industry, something that has been sorely lacking of late.  McCain also proposes to further diversify the market by allowing ambulatory clinics in retail locations and web-based medical practices to further reduce costs to individuals.  These innovations would not only create a dynamic new market in health care, they would reduce states’ costs by cutting down on the number of emergency room walk-ins at hospitals. 

By returning medical decisions to the patients, McCain’s plan unleashes the cleansing power of personal choice on a health insurance industry that has remained sadly stagnant for years.  Here McCain shows true wisdom by not falling into the trap of strong-arming consumers into buying insurance plans that are ill suited to their needs.  Such a program would only exacerbate the industry’s problems by stifling incentives for innovation and product diversification. 

Instead, McCain aims to open the market by allowing people to purchase their own personal policies, increasing competition among insurers as they compete for this newly empowered customer base.  McCain also wisely seeks to defoliate the regulatory jungle that is the interstate health insurance market.  Currently, insurers face different and complex regulations in each state, keeping the best companies locked up and allowing bad companies to survive.  By working with states to untangle this regulatory mess, the McCain plan would empower insurers across America to compete for customers nationwide, driving quality up, prices down, and the economy forward.

McCain’s plan is built on the solid rock of the free market.  It harnesses the thoroughbred forces of capitalism, replacing the tired and worn out team of regulation and red-tape, and puts them at the head of the health insurance industry so that they can lead it forward to lower prices and higher quality for all Americans.