(Washington, D.C.) -- As Presidential candidates debut new plans for massive government spending and reduced consumer choice in health care, a diverse coalition led by the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is urging Congress that the free market is the solution to rising costs.
Along with groups like the Council for Affordable Health Insurance, FreedomWorks, National Center for Policy Analysis, and the Rio Grande Foundation, NTU today urged Congress to remove price controls and government mandates and allow consumer choice to drive down costs.
"Any proposal that claims to provide universal coverage is simply a system that still must rely on private entities to administer government-imposed services," said NTU VP for Communications Pete Sepp. "Our economy functions more efficiently and with lower costs when competition, transparency, and consumer choice are introduced; health care should be no different."
The coalition believes in several main principles to drive down health care costs and help the uninsured. Among them: free choice of doctors and health plans, Health Savings Accounts for all Americans, buying health insurance across state lines, cost transparency, high risk pools for sick patients, and allowing more competition for patients among facilities.
"Congress is set to add $35 billion more to health care expenditures, even as Medicare is projected to go bankrupt within a decade. The last thing our health care market needs is more government regulation and coercion. Perhaps the most obnoxious proposal floating around the political arena is a plan to require all Americans to purchase health insurance. Forced action by the government won't drive down prices; it will restrict choice and increase the demand for health care, thus raising prices," noted Sepp.
Another preferred idea is one proposed by President Bush in his latest State of the Union Address. Allowing families to deduct up to $15,000 for health insurance would permit consumers to exercise more control over health care spending and allow people who can't afford health insurance to purchase low-cost plans.
"Consumers shouldn't have to depend on employers, HMOs, or the government for health care," Sepp concluded. "Simply permitting consumer choice and healthy competition will stabilize prices and give taxpayers some relief from trillions of dollars in looming government liabilities."
National Taxpayers Union was founded in 1969 to work for lower taxes, limited government, and more accountability from elected officials at all levels. Further information on NTU's health care reform projects is available online at www.ntu.org.
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