Healthcare Fix

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) has come up with a rather interesting healthcare proposal. It's not Hillarycare, but it's not quite Health Savings Accounts either. Here's a passage that caught my attention:

Under Wyden's plan, employers would no longer provide health coverage, as they have since World War II. Instead, they'd convert the current cost of coverage into additional salary for employees. Individuals would use this money to buy insurance, which they would be required to have. Private insurance plans would compete on features and price but would have to offer benefits at least equivalent to the Blue Cross "standard" option. Signing up for insurance would be as easy as ticking off a box on your tax return. In most cases, insurance premiums would be withheld from paychecks, as they are now.

Eliminating employers as an additional payer would encourage consumers to use health care more efficiently. Getting rid of the employer tax deduction, which costs a whopping $200 billion a year, would free up funds to subsidize insurance up to 400 percent of the poverty line, which is $82,000 for a family of four. The Lewin Group, an independent consulting firm, has estimated that Wyden's plan would reduce overall national spending on health care by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years and that it would save the government money through great administrative efficiency and competition.

This seems to make far more sense than our current model, where the employee is essentially a serf to his boss when it comes to purchasing insurance. Not only is this grossly inefficient, it's not even classical capitalism! This plan promises to cut government expenditures, give us more choice in selecting insurance plans, and would free up investment dollars for more productive endeavors (like, dare I say, trains!). Where's the catch?