Congress Should Allow US Residents To Purchase Health Insurance In Any State

The Health Care Choice Act, which Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) plans to reintroduce on Wednesday, would allow U.S. residents to purchase health insurance in any state to "create a competitive, 50-state market for health insurance, likely making it cheaper," Merrill Mathews, executive director of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance and a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece.

Mathews writes that the passage of the legislation "should be a no-brainer for Congress," but Democrats in the past have opposed the bill over concerns that "it would limit the ability of states to protect their residents." He adds, "If states are worried about losing regulatory control over health insurances, they might try making their regulations competitive with other states."

The legislation would not "solve every problem" with the health care system but would "increase competition and consumer choices currently denied to residents in many states," Mathews concludes (Mathews, Wall Street Journal, 12/12).