That's the right approach -- especially if savvy regulations protect consumers from rapacious plans. Let the government award vouchers for basic coverage, added internist William S. Andereck, and everyone has an incentive to buy health care.
The best part: This approach ends the illusion that if Uncle Sam pays for medical care, it's free. As I watched Pelosi on Tuesday, I thought: It's the California Budget Mess all over again -- with big promises of more government and more benefits and no across-the-board taxes to pay for the package. Democrats like to congratulate themselves for their noble intentions. But they have offered no plan to pay for them, and so they are bound to fail.