Posted by Michael Wonder on 02 Dec 2016
The four legs of a new health care system
30 November 2016 - The great recession enabled ObamaCare. Now the law’s failure makes reform possible.
Donald Trump announced this week that he had chosen Republican Tom Price, a leader in the efforts to replace ObamaCare, to be his secretary of Health and Human Services. This is a consequential choice. Mr. Trump’s election, and the political realignment it represents, offers a generational opportunity to pursue a new direction for American health care. Mr. Price will now be leading the charge.
The new system should be fully consumer driven, empowering individuals to be the surveyors and purchasers of their care. Past reforms in this direction became stilted and ultimately incomplete, but the current moment offers a chance to truly rebuild from the ground up. If Messrs. Trump and Price want to make the most of this short window, they should keep four central reforms in mind.
