Everyone talks about making healthcare less expensive, but nothing ever seems to happen from there. Kentucky only needs courage to lead on this.
The Left wants to chuck the whole thing and let the government run it all. The idea that the government paragons of efficiency would administer services and lower costs merely be eliminating profit margins should be so implausible as to be unnecessary to address. That it must be addressed is a testament to the dire need for improved financial literacy among the electorate.
The Right simply fails to go far enough in allowing the free market to lower consumer costs.
Kentucky should dismantle its system of mandated benefits and byzantine regulations and allow any kind of company to offer any kind of financial arrangement for any kind of health services that they can sell a policy for.
The regulatory structure currently in place could keep itself busy chasing down companies that didn't live up to the obligations spelled out in their contracts. Lawmakers could work up stiff penalties for fraudulent acts.
The proliferation of competition brought on by this plan would improve service, increase customer satisfaction, and lower prices. Increased competition always does this. Stifling competition -- as our current approach does -- always allows the opposite.
