A Democrat's Market Approach to Universal Health Care

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) follows healthcare closely. According to Micheal Barone, Wyden wants a bi-partisan path to universal health care. Wyden:

notes that government single-payer health insurance -- the goal of some senior liberal Democrats in Congress -- was rejected by the voters of his liberal state by a four-to-one margin. He also notes that we don't have employer-provided auto insurance -- we buy that out of after-tax earnings. He argues that people should be able to buy health insurance as members of Congress and federal employees do, from an array of choices offered by private insurers.

He's looking [for] a political deal. . .Bush's standard deduction and a private insurance market in which consumers would have incentives to hold down costs. . . [and] universal coverage, with subsidies for low earners to pay for coverage. . . [A]dditional revenues from those with policies worth more than $15,000 [would] subsidize low-earners.

. . . Democrats. . .who seek more government provision of healthcare will probably be uninterested. But [there’s] the apparent success of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. Many Democrats believed that seniors would have a hard time choosing policies from an array of choices and that they would end up being gouged by private insurers. But polls indicate that the vast majority of seniors are pleased with the results. . .