Let the States Experiment

CongressDaily recently reported that at the 12th annual "Princeton Conference" held on May 20th health policy experts proposed that the federal government provide states with a "policy toolbox" to allow them to experiment with different methods for reducing the number of uninsured residents in their states. The idea was proposed by Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation and Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution during the conference which was attended by academics, congressional staff, government officials and representatives from the health care industry. Under their proposal, states would be encouraged to test different methods for improving health care coverage and states that showed improved coverage would be rewarded. The health care proposals would be approved by a federal commission, and Congress would vote on a slate of plans. Neither Congress nor the Bush administration would have the final vote over which method is used in each state. According to Butler, the proposal would simultaneously "enable members of Congress to accept approaches they would never allow in their own states and provide the ability to experiment with different approaches over a five-year period.