Health Savings Accounts, responsibility and alcoholism
I wrote the following letter to The New Yorker, responding to Malcolm Gladwell's piece entitled "The Moral Hazard Myth," in the August 29, 2005 issue:
Dear Sir:
Malcolm Gladwell is right in suggesting that the sick pay more for health care. However, his argument that overall costs will not drop as increasing numbers are given an ownership stake in their care flies in the face of reality. While many do not pig out at all-you-can-eat diners, some do, increasing overall costs. If we want to decrease these costs, which help the sick and well alike, we need to create incentives to conserve scarce resources. Destroying the price mechanism, which universal care does, guarantees overuse. Health Savings Accounts go far in creating ...
