A Positive Health Care Agenda for Free‐Market Advocates
If you know any limited‐government types who are looking for a positive health care agenda (off‐hand, I can think of ten), be sure to let them know about a forum Cato is hosting on Thursday titled, “Health Savings Accounts: Not Entirely Consumer‐Directed (Yet).”
HSAs are the most important step Congress has taken toward liberalizing America’s health care sector. At this forum, I’ll be introducing a proposal that would let workers own every one of their health care dollars — not just the few thousand dollars that HSAs let them control. Tentatively titled “large HSAs,” this proposal would:
- Allow workers to control 100 percent of their health benefits dollars
- Allow HSA holders to choose any type of health plan
- Eliminate the tax code’s biases toward employer‐sponsored insurance and excessive coverage
- Cap the tax exclusion for employer‐sponsored insurance and
- Provide tax relief to those without employer‐sponsored insurance, including the uninsurable.
Joining me to comment on the proposal will be the CEA’s Katherine Baicker and Jason Furman of the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project.
The forum will be held just two days from today, on Thursday, May 24, at 4pm EDT at the Cato Institute. Click here to register or watch the event online. Click here for directions and parking information.
