(Editor’s Note:  As has been well-pointed out, so much of the healthcare reform debate has revolved around HOW government should accomplish it, very few people are asking IF it is the government’s role at all.   It is not.   This is yet another usurpation of state’s rights by the federal government to intrude and commandeer an industry it has no right to take over.)

“We think it’s critical that power shifts to the American consumer and away from government, employers and insurers, as evidence shows medical care prices come down when patients pay directly. Government should offer tax relief, such as refundable tax credits, to encourage private health insurance purchasing — especially for low-income families. Similar ideas, like those in the Patients’ Choice Act … are important for Americans to consider. We would do well also to consider creative ideas such as changing federal payments to state-based medicaid plans to individual vouchers or expanding health savings accounts, as has been done in South Carolina.”  (Dr. Scott W. Atlas, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor at Stanford University Medical Center, and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford).