Five Questions About Health Care Reform - with Answers

Have five minutes to spare? Then read on:

If you are interested in the reform of health care funding I recommend this article by the economist Arnold Kling. I don't agree with all of his ideas, such as citizens petitioning a "compensation fund" (run by government workers, I assume - yikes!) for reimbursement of medical expenses related to what Kling calls "tragic medical conditions." As Kling writes:

In determining the size of the lump-sum payment, the compensation fund would take into account the typical cost of treating such a person. However, other factors also would come into play.

One factor that might be taken into account is personal responsibility. Compensation might be lower for patients who were careless about preventing or treating their illness. Charities might be more generous to those with low lifetime incomes and less generous to those who squandered money that might have been used to buy insurance policies or save for the medical expenses of old age.

Another important factor would be the expected duration of the illness. A broken arm brings with it fewer long-term expenses than juvenile diabetes or early-stage Alzheimer's.

People would not be required to equate their spending on medical services to the amount received in compensation funds. A person might obtain relatively minimal healthcare services and instead spend money on other things. Someone else might spend all of the compensation on health care and then spend his or her own money to obtain additional medical services that go beyond what is typical for the condition.

This solution reminds me of Chapter X of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, where workers of the Twentieth Century Motor Company vote on how much to pay their fellow workers based on their "needs." Despite that, I think the essay has some great ideas and recommend it to you (the five minutes begin once you click on the link to the piece - sorry).

(Hat tip: Instapundit)