Health Care BS

Although Tuesday’s GOP debate was pretty thin on health care discussion, it did establish Rudy Giuliani as the only genuine free-market reformer in the presidential race. Here’s an illustrative excerpt from his debate remarks:

Health insurance should become like homeowners insurance or like car insurance: You don’t cover everything in your homeowners policy. If you have a slight accident in your house, if you need to refill your oil in your car, you don’t cover that with insurance. But that is covered in many of the insurance policies because they’re government dominated and they’re employer dominated.

Via the Everyday Economist, the WSJ advises that “America’s Mayor” is planning to flesh out this general philosophy in the near future:

Moving his presidential campaign beyond its signature issue of national security, [Giuliani] is preparing to lay out a health-care plan that would mark a significant change in how health insurance is paid for in the U.S. The plan … provides a contrast to the push for universal coverage aided by government subsidies emerging from the Democratic field.

This is a refreshing change from the general evasiveness on health care reform that has characterized the Republican campaign thus far. More important than his willingness to discuss the issue, however, is the fact that Giuliani understands the power of the free market:

The principles Mr. Giuliani identified for health care mirror President Bush’s call for an “ownership society” in which the power of the free market could eventually shore up health and retirement security programs alike … In Mr. Giuliani’s view, the U.S. health-care system’s major problem is a lack of consumer choice. “It’s your health; you should own your own insurance,” he said in Tuesday’s debate. “The reality is that we need a free market.”

Amen.

UPDATE:

One of the more interesting responses to Giuliani’s debate remarks is the suggestion that his health care position echoes that of Arnold Kling. I have no idea if Giuliani has ever heard of Kling, but it wouldn’t hurt the mayor to peruse his writings.