September 7, 2006 2:41PM 

# Federalism This Ain’t 

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

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According to Kaiser​net​work​.org:

> Reps. Tom Price (R‑Ga.) and Tammy Baldwin (D‑Wis.) on Wednesday at a joint event by the [Brookings Institution](http://www.brookings.edu/) and [Heritage Foundation](http://www.heritage.org/) encouraged lawmakers to back a bill ([HR 5864](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:HR.5864:)) that would “allow states to act as laboratories where lawmakers could test methods to reduce the number of uninsured Americans,” [CQ HealthBeat](http://www.cq.com/corp/show.do?page=products_cqhealthbeat) reports.

In an online debate with Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation ([here](https://www.cato.org/2006/06/16/thud/), [here](https://www.cato.org/2006/06/19/thud-part-ii/), and [here](https://www.cato.org/2006/06/21/thud-part-iii/)), I argued that this approach would favor government-expanding health care proposals.

Those in search of a free-market health care agenda should look [elsewhere](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1930865813?v=glance).

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

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