>For starters :
>- Modify the tax code to allow individuals the same tax incentives as employers
>- Remove intrastate insurance segregation
>- Legal reform to reduce predatory malpractice lawsuits
>
>You call that opening up the market? OK.

Notice the word starters. ;)

>Agree re the third.

Woot!

>Second might work if you have an exemplar participant in mind that is constrained by state boundaries. Do you?

I'm not sure what you mean. Currently US citizens' health insurance choices are restricted by their state of residence.

>First seems like delaying the inevitable.

Please explain? I see the current code as an awful constraint on an individual's choice and that constraint has contributed to market contraction.

>What about reduction of brokerage fees and other admin costs of private schemes? That seems like an obvious 20% saving right there. Obama's plan includes a proposal for that.

Wouldn't greater competition encourage this?

>And what about funding care for the elderly as costs rise inexorably? Unless there is a plan for that, all the rest is just postponing the inevitable IMHO. A cynic might propose leaving the issue with Medicare and then blaming/bashing Medicare for the predictable results, but since you can reasonably expect to have to rely on Medicare yourself one day, perhaps that's not a great plan. ;-)

Again, wouldn't greater competition encourage alternatives? Already there is a large amount of competition in medicare supplement plans due to medicare's inability to fulfill its promise.