Complexity of Health Care Reform

For the past few months, the issue of health care reform has topped the lists of discussion topics.
The American public has been bombarded with tremendous amount of information on the plan from various viewpoints. The information, which includes all the details of the new health care can be quite confusing.
This editorial article from Forbes.com talks about the complexity of health care plan, and how the government needs to simplify it. Brett Joshpe, the author of the article, breaks the problem down into two major parts - quality and cost. Cost is obviously the main problem, since the quality of the system is strong. The problem is how to ensure that the same quality health care is distributed to the rest of the American public, without increasing the cost?
Joshpe proposes that one way to spread quality health care without compromising cost is through allowing Americans to purchase insurance from across state borders. In the market, this would increase supply (because the customers will have more options), and would lead to a decrease in price.
I agree with Joshpe that the government has not handled the health care situation well by creating all these confusing details. Basic rule in economics is that price changes occur due to the affect in supply and demand. Instead of trying to add all these clauses and details to build a health care bill, the administration needs to focus on the relationship of cost and quality within the market. Sometimes a simple approach is the best approach, but the administration and the Congress is making this issue too complex.
As Joshpe states, such system will add regulation. Regulation is a costly expense and will deteriorate the quality of the system.
Currently, the United States offers best quality in health care. This is demonstrated by the number of foreigners who travel for treatment in the US. The main problem is driving down cost. This can be accomplished through simple methods and so the representatives at Congress need to stop focusing on party interest and make a bipartisan effort to pass a less complex bill.

In order to visit this article, visit forbes.com