Prof touts private insurance

A proposed government-run health insurance option would limit the choices of insurance plans for consumers, a Harvard business professor said Tuesday during a health care summit in Omaha.

Regina Herzlinger said a better option would be enabling employees to buy their own health insurance with the money their employer uses to purchase group coverage from private insurers.

Herzlinger, a proponent of consumer-driven health care, spoke in an interview and during the conference organized by the Platte Institute, a conservative Nebraska think tank.

Some members of Congress have pushed for a government-run insurance option to compete with private insurers. Proponents have said the government option would be a way to provide coverage for more Americans.

Herzlinger said it would be a mistake for the government to run the insurance plan.

She said one model that has worked is one used in Switzerland. The government there doesn't run an insurance plan, but provides money to low-income people to buy their own coverage from companies, which are required to be nonprofit. That enables people to get the insurance that is best for them, she said.

Dr. Donald Palmisano, spokesman for the Coalition to Protect Patients' Right, also addressed the issue of a government-run insurance plan during a visit to Omaha on Tuesday. He said a government-run option would have similar problems to Medicaid. He said Medicaid patients have trouble finding a doctor who will accept Medicaid because of low reimbursements.

Palmisano was in Omaha for a press conference organized by the Nebraska steering committee of the coalition, which is urging Congress to slow down the health care overhaul and develop policies that put patients first.

Contact the writer:

444-1122, michael.oconnor@owh.com

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