By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Jan. 29
– The Heritage Foundation will bring its “consumer-driven” solution to the health care crisis to Kansas next week.
Ed Haislmaier, a research fellow at the conservative think tank, will address a joint meeting of the House and Senate task forces on health at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in Room 313-S at the Statehouse.
“Basically, what we”re proposing is moving from a system where you”re subsidizing providers to a system where you”re subsidizing consumers to buy insurance,” Haislmaier said during a telephone interview Monday. “There are ways states can move in that direction now
ways that put consumers in the driver”s seat
without waiting on the federal government.”
The Heritage Foundations last week endorsed the market reforms cited in President Bush”s State of the Union address and most of those underway in Massachusetts.
“Massachusetts is moving toward a consumer-driven system where most people buy their insurance directly through an organized exchange as a means of making it easier to do,” Haislmaier said. “Employers do not have to worry about picking a separate plan and at the same time, employees have a choice of multiple plans but with all the protections and advantages of an employer group plan. It”s a blending of what we have today.”
Haislmaier said he also will encourage legislators to look at ways to empower parents whose children are insured through the state-run HealthWave programs.
Haislmaier”s proposals struck a chord with Rep. Peggy Mast, R-Emporia and vice chairman of the House Task Force on Health.
“I like the idea of giving people on Medicaid a feeling of ownership in this ? and giving them incentives to live healthier lives,” Mast said Monday during the task force”s first meeting.
Mast and task force chairman, Rep. Jeff Colyer, R-Overland Park, met last week with Haislmaier in Washington, D.C.
Colyer, a physician, said he”s also planning presentations by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council and the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy.
The task force reconvenes at noon today.
Kansas Health Policy Authority Executive Director Marcia Nielsen meets with the task force at noon Wednesday.
The Senate task force meets at noon Wednesday to discuss tobacco use.
Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.