Health Care: Paul Krugman, Government Bureaucrats and Private Sector

New York Times has an excellent Op-ed by the famous economist Paul Krugman with the title: Harry, Louise and Barack. He has talked about the new proposals of the private industry players about healthcare system in USA. It is needless to say that healthcare is one of the top issues in the country today. President Barack Obama promised that he would carry out some major changes in this sector and he would make things easier for the American ordinary people to have better medical facilities paying less. Of course, it sounds attractive but providing it is a huge challenge for any government.

Paul Krugman has discussed all sides of the coin in the column. He talked about some mistrust that he has about the industry players. He has mentioned that in the past, these big companies created obstacle for people to get better insurance deals. So, he is surprised that now, these companies are trying to do the opposite thing. Naturally, some decision makers are excited and happy that they will not face any big difficulty from the industry in implementing the vision of President Obama about healthcare reforms. Mr. Krugman has also expressed his satisfaction over the matter but at the same time, he has urged the government bureaucrats on one thing:

I would strongly urge the Obama administration to hang tough in the bargaining ahead. In particular, AHIP will surely try to use the good will created by its stance on cost control to kill an important part of health reform: giving Americans the choice of buying into a public insurance plan as an alternative to private insurers. The administration should not give in on this point.

He is right. Obama government should never agree to any proposal that would limit the American people about their medical options.