Cambridge University Press released a book this summer entitled Health Care for Us All: Getting More for Our Investment, by Earl Grinols and James Henderson, both economists at Baylor University. (Yes, it’s a CUP hardcover, so it’ll cost you a pretty penny!)
Today at Public Discourse Professor Grinols writes:
Imagine that every American has good health insurance, appropriate to his or her circumstances, and is the conduit through which payment is made. Imagine that doctors and hospitals post prices, can charge what they want but compete with one another for patients, and charge everyone who they do treat the same price for the same service on the same terms. Only then will every American be in charge of his or her own health care and be treated as the respected center of all decisions about their own bodies.
This system need not rest in the imagination. It’s possible in the here and now with just a few minor reforms.
They estimate that the uninsured could all be covered at a national annual cost of about $1,555.
For those who have been followed this debate and discussion, do you think their plan would work?