Free Republic

"I say this with good conscience: every year we don't do anything about the uninsured, we end up, by default, moving closer to a single-payer system," Louisiana Secretary of Health and Hospitals Alan Levine warned TAS in an interview. "Because every year, more people get enrolled in Medicare, more people get enrolled in Medicaid, and more people get enrolled in SCHIP... that by itself is having a death spiral effect on private insurance." And a single-payer system, he added, "would be a disaster." Levine is the man Governor Bobby Jindal has entrusted with the Louisiana Health First Iniative, an overhaul...

“Trying to Save by Increasing Doctors’ Fees” (front page, July 21) explores the idea that spending more on health care now will save money in the long run. Early intervention is medically effective, but there’s a good reason why it cannot be financially efficient in our current system using commercial health insurance companies. An insurance company spokesman points out that it is uncertain whether there will be a direct return on the investment within a “reasonable time horizon.” That’s the key contradiction for the United States. If Company A pays now for a vaccination or other preventive care for a...