EDITORIAL - The individual mandate - an affordable and fair approach to achieving universal coverage

[Guest guest]

Volume 361:6-7 July 2, 2009 Number 1

The Individual Mandate — An Affordable and Fair Approach to Achieving

Universal Coverage

J. Blumberg, Ph.D., and Holahan, Ph.D.

Some of the most prominent shortcomings of the U.S. health insurance

market are rooted in the fact that the system is a voluntary one.

Outside the state of Massachusetts, which recently instituted

broad-based health care reform, no one under the age of 65 years is

required to obtain health insurance coverage of any kind. Voluntary

insurance markets have led to a system centered on segmenting health

risk instead of one whose primary mission is ensuring affordable

access to necessary and efficiently provided high-quality medical

services. But the past need not be prologue. The orientation of our

system and the distorted incentives that it creates can be changed. A

vital component of such a change would be bringing all U.S. residents

into our health insurance system through an individual mandate.

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Read the full editorial here:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/361/1/6?query=TOC

Not an MD