At the top of my wish list would be addressing the cost of health CARE rather than focusing on the cost of health INSURANCE. A major factor in the rising cost of health care in our country is that the consumer is too far removed from the actual cost of their care. As a result, the cost of care continues to rise, as does the cost of insurance.

Our current third-party payer health care system does not induce, nor in many cases afford the opportunity, for a consumer to determine the value of the care they are considering. Only the consumer can determine if the value of the resources used for their medical treatment are greater than the value provided by the medical treatment. When they are paying 20 percent of the cost of the medical treatment, the determination of the value of the care is very different than it is when they are paying 100 percent of the cost of the care. If we put consumers back in control of determining efficient quality and quantity, that will drive down the cost of health care and in turn, bring down the cost of health insurance.

Joni Reents