February 11, 2009 12:31PM 

# Enzi Lays Down Health Care Marker 

By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) 

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Sen. Mike Enzi (R‑WY), the ranking Republican on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, has a good [op-ed](http://thehill.com/op-eds/patient-centered-reform-achievable-if-gop-is-not-excluded-from-process-2009-02-10.html) in today’s edition of *The Hill*.

Enzi rather interestingly does not see Medicare Part D as an example of Congress “simply throwing more money at Medicare.”

That aside, Enzi stakes out a position against creating a new Medicare-like program to compete with private insurance, and against price controls in health care. Those are two of the three positions I advised free-market advocates to take in [this op-ed](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/28/avoiding-health-care-chaos/).

The third is a firm opposition to mandates that require individuals to purchase health insurance, whether [directly](https://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/v29n5/cpr29n5-1.html) or [through an employer](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8431). I’m sure Enzi’s saving that for his next op-ed.

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) 

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