Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Wolf FoxNews OpEd on Genuine Health Reforms

Fox News has published the latest OpEd from Dr. Milton Wolf, "My Cousin Barack Obama and Our ObamaCare Family Feud".

In this latest piece, he zeroes in on the basic problem with ObamaCare:
The fundamental flaw at the core of ObamaCare is the mistaken belief that the government can spend your dollars more effectively than you can. This tragically pessimistic belief views all Americans with suspicion as either incompetent or unrighteous but either way in need of big-government control.
He also offers some genuine free-market reforms, including:
1) Tax Fairness. Allow Americans to purchase their own insurance without a tax penalty.
2) End state insurance and licensing monopolies
3) Eliminate frivolous lawsuits
(Read the full text of "My Cousin Barack Obama and Our ObamaCare Family Feud".)

I find it especially noteworthy that he's willing to tackle an issue that will be unpopular with many doctors -- namely the government licensing requirements that give doctors an unfair state-sanctioned monopoly. Dr. Wolf's proposed reform would be a good step in the direction of true health care freedom for all Americans.

(In fact, economics professor Shirley Svorny makes a good case in this paper that all government medical licensing can and should be completely eliminated and replaced with private credentialing systems: "Medical Licensing: An Obstacle to Affordable, Quality Care".)