Candidate Review - Health Care - Dr. Alan Keyes

As I said Tuesday, the challenge for Democrats is to push for improved and, in most cases, universal health care WITHOUT appearing socialist. For Republicans the challenge is to defend the current system WITHOUT appearing unaware of the problems faced by Americans without Medical Insurance.

Well Keyes is a pretty hardline guy when it comes to the market, and his issue page makes it clear that there will be no socialism in the medical profession on his watch. That said, he also makes it clear that he is aware of the plight of the uninsured.

I don't believe in government-controlled health care, and I think that what we need to look at is ways in which we can put the consumer in proper charge of their own health care plan, so we can drive the cost down, instead of up.

Part of the problem with our present system, which I think has contributed to skyrocketing costs, is the fact that we have a third-party-payer system. You go home after you get the service, and you don't even know what it costs. If we bought cars that way, what do you think would happen to our car industry?

We need to adopt plans, such as the one that President Bush is talking about, where people can set up tax-deductible medical savings accounts and combine that with catastrophic insurance that will guarantee them against the major liability and at the same time give them greater freedom, greater control, and a greater reward when they are making good, effective judgments on how to get their health care.

This does sound hard on the Insurance industry, but really it is kind of a gift to the Financial industry. That said, I think that Keyes has accurately determined the problem in the industry, the lack of connection between costs and services. His solution, though, seems like more of a band-aid. If you can't afford medical insurance, how are tax deduct able accounts going to solve the problem?