Thursday, December 09, 2004
Healthy Minnesota
[David S. Broder, "Minnesota fighting health care costs," The Wichita Eagle, 9 December 2004.]
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty should be commended for taking a leadership role on health care. At the same time, however, it appears that he may be focusing on yet another top-down approach involving "big solutions" rather than changes in individual behavior. Along these lines, it is encouraging to see the inclusion of health savings accounts in the plan, but Pawlenty is likely underestimating their value in creatin a bottom-up revolution in health care:
No one is immune from the problem of runaway costs in the dysfunctional American health-care system. Not individual families, not businesses and certainly not state and federal governments. The universality of the problem is what makes an experiment being launched in Minnesota this month an important national story.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Nov. 29 announced the formation of the Smart Buy Alliance, an unprecedented partnership of state government and private employers that will, he hopes, mobilize the purchasing power of three out of every five consumers in Minnesota to raise the quality, improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of health care.
Pawlenty’s plan does not change the financing of health care or its provision. It includes an idea popular with President Bush: the option for individuals to set up savings accounts, which combine high-deductible medical insurance with a tax-free savings account that can be rolled over from year to year if not needed.
But the accounts are useful only for minor, routine expenses. As Pawlenty noted, chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease, push up medical costs. His plan uses market forces to seek more effective results in treating these expensive conditions.
[Greg Scandlen, "Choice is revolutionizing health care," The Wichita Eagle, 28 September 2004.]
[David S. Broder, "Minnesota fighting health care costs," The Wichita Eagle, 9 December 2004.]
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty should be commended for taking a leadership role on health care. At the same time, however, it appears that he may be focusing on yet another top-down approach involving "big solutions" rather than changes in individual behavior. Along these lines, it is encouraging to see the inclusion of health savings accounts in the plan, but Pawlenty is likely underestimating their value in creatin a bottom-up revolution in health care:
No one is immune from the problem of runaway costs in the dysfunctional American health-care system. Not individual families, not businesses and certainly not state and federal governments. The universality of the problem is what makes an experiment being launched in Minnesota this month an important national story.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Nov. 29 announced the formation of the Smart Buy Alliance, an unprecedented partnership of state government and private employers that will, he hopes, mobilize the purchasing power of three out of every five consumers in Minnesota to raise the quality, improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of health care.
Pawlenty’s plan does not change the financing of health care or its provision. It includes an idea popular with President Bush: the option for individuals to set up savings accounts, which combine high-deductible medical insurance with a tax-free savings account that can be rolled over from year to year if not needed.
But the accounts are useful only for minor, routine expenses. As Pawlenty noted, chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease, push up medical costs. His plan uses market forces to seek more effective results in treating these expensive conditions.
[Greg Scandlen, "Choice is revolutionizing health care," The Wichita Eagle, 28 September 2004.]
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