Mark Kennedy: “Health care will be allocated by some means. If it is totally free, totally available in a single-payer plan, then the…”

“Health care will be allocated by some means. If it is totally free, totally available in a single-payer plan, then the government will come up with restrictions. We have too much today, even in this country, of government deciding to ration what they are going to pay for health care, ration the procedures, and having businesses make too many of those decisions. One of the most beautiful things that we have done to advance health care empowerment of individuals is the health savings accounts that we passed as part of the Medicare reform last year. What this does is if you have a high deductible plan, a minimum of $1,000 per person, $2,000 per couple, it can be up to over $2,500 per person, $5,000 per couple, you can put that amount away, tax-free, into an account, use it for health expenditures tax-free. If you do not use it, you can roll it over, earn interest on it tax-free, and build up a nest egg that you can use in your senior years. But what this means is that rather than some impersonal party getting the bill that you never see for your health care costs, you can know what it costs, shop for the best price, and make decisions.”