March 26, 2007
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Is "Rendell Care" Good Medicine?
By Senator Mike 'Citizen Mike' Folmer 

Recently, Governor Rendell unveiled a far-reaching proposal for universal healthcare that many are referring to simply as "Rendell Care." But is Rendell Care the right prescription for Pennsylvania?

There are three critical components to the issue of healthcare: access, cost, and quality.

Rendell Care, like Romney Care in Massachusetts (named after Governor Mitt Romney), attempts to address the access part of the equation by forcing businesses to provide, and pay for, insurance to their employees.  This plan, like socialized medicine, could resolve the access part of the problem. But also like socialized medicine, the aspects of cost and quality would go unaddressed, if not become worse.

Consider that Romney Care, after which Rendell Care is modeled, ended up costing much more than the governor of the Bay State said it would, by a large margin. Specifically, healthcare spending in Massachusetts in the first year increased by $276 million, which is more than double what the public was told.

As for the quality of healthcare, so far Gov. Rendell hasn't revealed any details of his plan that would address it, for better or worse.

So if Rendell Care is lacking, what is the right prescription for healthcare in Pennsylvania in terms of addressing not only access, but also cost and quality?

First, we should allow businesses, particularly small businesses, to pool their premiums together and purchase insurance at lower costs for their employees. Secondly, we should implement tax incentives for individuals to fund their own health savings accounts, or HSAs.  Thirdly, we should put an end to lawsuit abuse by implementing meaningful legal reform.

Our system of jackpot jury awards in medical malpractice cases has chased away our doctors and medical school graduates to other states which have capped jury awards at fair, commonsense limits.

Legal reform would also lessen the need for doctors to practice "defensive medicine," which is costly and ineffective. Finally, we should do everything we can to encourage the healthcare profession to police itself better so as to minimize medical errors.

High-quality, affordable healthcare for all Pennsylvanians is attainable without having to resort to flawed gimmicks used in other states and nations.