Governor Schwarzenegger will start his second term with California health reform as his top priority. Hopefully, the Governor will take a fresh turn towards universal choice in health care, which requires breaking free from the inflexible and expensive status quo but does not impose more government power. So far, his policy approach remains unclear.
Last year, we noted with concern the rising enthusiasm for mandatory, private health insurance, overseen by state or federal bureaucracies. We proposed that the relative success of the Swiss health-care system was not due to its mandatory nature, but that its method of paying for health care approximates true “insurance” significantly better than America’s does. Our effort has not stemmed the tide.
