A health care plan that might just work

Mitt Romney's proposing a new health care plan which requires those able to afford health care to purchase some limited form of it, not unlike compulsory auto insurance. It will also make a point of bringing those who are not covered and eligible for Medicaid into that system. Most boldly, however (and the point which gives me the most pause) is that the state of Massachusetts will subsidize the health care of the working poor, by allocating the $1 billion that it had been spending on emergency care for those who had no coverage (including those who could afford it) to subsidizing the working poor.

I've decided that I like this plan, about as much as I like required auto insurance. It's not savory, and it doesn't really reduce government expenses, but it is necessary to defray costs that the state is currently funding. What I like most about the idea is that

• The government is not providing health care to all people, and
• It is being done at the state level, not at the expensive (and historically mismanaged) federal level.

Go-go Gadget Federalism!