Policy Forum 

# Can the Market Provide Choice and Secure Health Coverage Even for High-Cost Illnesses? 

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Date and Time 

March 31, 2009 12 - 2 PM EDT 

Location 

Auditorium/Wintergarden 

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##### Featuring 

Featuring **John H. Cochrane**, Myron S. Scholes Professor of Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research; **Bradley Herring**, Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; moderated by **Michael F. Cannon**, Director of Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute. 

At his White House summit on health care reform, President Obama said, “If there is a way of getting this done where we’re driving down costs and people are getting health insurance at an affordable rate, and have choice of doctor, have flexibility in terms of their plans, and we could do that entirely through the market, I’d be happy to do it that way.” In a study recently published by the Cato Institute, economist John Cochrane argues that the market can solve a huge piece of the health care puzzle: providing secure, life-long health insurance and a choice of health plans to even the sickest patients. The key, Cochrane explains, is to eliminate government policies that force the healthy to subsidize the sick, such as the tax preference for employer-sponsored coverage and other attempts to impose price controls on health insurance premiums.

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