This morning, Ezra Klein and Stuart Browning joined me for what I think was an entertaining and informative forum on health policy. (Keep an eye on this page for the archived webcast.) Thanks to both of them for participating.


Over at his blog, Klein offers his thoughts on the discussion:

What always strikes me at these panels, though, is how much agreement there really is. Michael Cannon and I would build very different systems, to be sure, but at base, we both believe the employer tie to be awful, and the insurers to suck, and the hospitals to be performing below expectations, and on, and on. The obstacles to reform are not intellectual disagreement or policy uncertainties — they’re interest groups trying to protect a system that benefits them.

To be clear, we have serious intellectual disagreements. I am an obstacle to Klein’s preferred reforms; as he is to mine.


I don’t expect that to last, however. I have sensed this for some time and now I’m ready to predict it: Ezra Klein will die a libertarian. And it won’t be a deathbed conversion, either. Right now, I think he would call himself a progressive, which is fine. He could even keep that label: it better fits someone who’s committed to expanding liberty anyhow.