A Look at Obama's Healthcare Plan

With all the discussion about President Obama's proposed healthcare plan, we thought we'd check in with Laurence Kotlikoff, author of The Healthcare Fix and professor of economics at Boston University to see what he thinks of the whole thing:

The President's plan to expand health insurance for the close to 50 million uninsured Americans is admirable in its objectives, but is fiscally reckless.   We need to get everyone insured in a basic plan, but not by having four separate systems, none of which together or are collectively affordable.  I speak here not just of the new proposed insurance system for those now uninsured, but also of the employer-based system, Medicare, and Medicaid. 

What the President proposes will likely induce an unraveling of the employer-based system as employers close down their plans in order to ensure their low-income workers benefit from the subsidies in the new system.  In short, we are going to end up with the government paying for everyone's basic health plan, i.e., we're going to get a one-payer system, but one that will be extremely inefficient and drive the nation broke.  The Healthcare Fix offers a real alternative that meets all of the President's healthcare objectives without driving our nation broke.  I recommend that everyone buy two copies, one for themselves and one to mail to the President. 

More on Kotlikoff's healthcare plan can be found here.