Porter Goss: “Underlying the entire national health care reform debate lie two central philosophical questions: How much Government do…”

“Underlying the entire national health care reform debate lie two central philosophical questions: How much Government do we want in the American system? How much Government can we afford? Some people believe the Government should take over and manage our entire national health care delivery system--with centralized control and decisionmaking. On the other end of the spectrum are those of us who believe that our health care decisionmaking must remain predominantly private, personal, and market driven. Clearly, the current patchwork of Government and market forces that crisscross our health structure have left an imperfect situation in which millions of Americans lack access to quality care and the cost of providing that quality care is skyrocketing. But is more Government control--some of us might say 'interference'--the answer? Looking at the history of American health care spending, we see alarming trends that raise serious red flags about the costs of Government-run health care.”