Choosing from the health care reform menu

Rising costs and diminished insurance coverage have reduced support for the U.S. health care system among all stakeholders. Proposals for reform have arrayed policymakers along discrete lines, with some favoring incremental reform, others endorsing an expanded role for employers, and still others pushing for a radical conversion to a publicly-financed, publicly-administered program. Each carries enough negatives to make it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Rather than waiting for a consensus on one or the other, the U.S. can adopt a strategy that would extend insurance coverage without fueling inflation. All Americans would be guaranteed coverage via a mandate on employers, an expanded public program, and creation of powerful quasi-governmental financial agents who would negotiate and set prices paid to providers.