The process by which we obtain health insurance in the United States is thoroughly broken. Costs are rising needlessly, personal incentives for maintaining one's health are nullified by convoluted payment structures, and coverage is unnecessarily tied to irrelevant factors such as employment. Too often people overspend for years buying coverage for things they do not need, and then have no savings left to pay expensive medical bills when struck by illness or injury.

We can do better. By recognizing the right of individuals to contract with each other freely, we can unleash a wave of new innovation in health insurance. Free to form associations, citizens will be able to pool their resources to provide health insurance based on each customer's unique preferences and risk factors.

Obtaining insurance will become more affordable as policies are drawn up to reflect the services and treatments desired by the consumer, not by special interest groups. Health will improve as individuals are allowed to reap more of the benefits from making good, responsible decisions. Health insurance portability will be improved by increased competition—and doubly improved if accompanied by tax reforms that grant deductions to individuals rather than employers.

For the past 60 years, we have trusted legislators and regulators to design a system to deliver affordable health insurance, and they have failed. Let's reverse the decades of failed policies and let the people discover real solutions.

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The text above was submitted to the idea contest held by the website Change.org. For approximately a month, visitors could vote on the idea for a chance to have it presented in Washington. The first round of voting ended on February 25, 2010. This idea finished in 13th Place in the Health Care category and did not make it to the final round. For additional discussion along this theme, see the article "How the Freedom to Contract Protects Insurability" by Dr. Paul Hsieh, which appeared in The Objective Standard (Fall 2009; Vol. 4, No. 3).

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