Becker and Posner on Health Care in the US

For some reason Google Reader always shows the reply post on the Becker-Posner blog before the original (the post to which the response is directed).

In any event, Gary Becker has posted several suggestions for health care reform. I would love to know what the implications are for his suggestions in terms of cost, particularly eliminating the link between employment and the tax advantage of private health insurance. I suppose Ezra Klein will let us know what those are (from the liberal perspective) before too long.

Among the other insights in the posts are good discussions of the moral implications various policy reforms. Both also address the issue of political problems with reform: namely that since the majority of people in the US wouldn't realize any benefit from reforming access for the poor, they are unlikely to support the rather staggering cost.

If you aren't familiar with the blog, it's fantastic. Gary Becker is a Nobel Prize winning economist, and Richard Posner is a modern renaissance man. He's a Circuit Court judge, a professor of law, an economist, and a highly regarded literary critic. I'm sure there is much more...