New census data showing that the number of uninsured U.S. residents increased by 2.2 million in 2006 to 47 million "undoubtedly deserves the attention it is getting," but the "increasing size of the uninsured population is only a symptom of deeper problems in American health care, not the problem itself," Clark Havighurst and Barak Richman, professors at Duke University's School of Law, write in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. Havighurst and Richman continue, "Indeed, concern for the uninsured obscures the plight of middle- and lower-income workers who do have health coverage but pay dearly for it."

They write, "A good way to prepare the public for needed health reforms would be to expose consumers to the true cost of health insurance," which can be done through President Bush's "pending proposal to tax the value of employees' health benefits as income, while also providing a compensating standard deduction or tax credit." Bush's proposal "would serve the useful purpose of stimulating market and political demand for low-cost alternatives, including coverage that stops short of paying for everything seemingly mandated by professional (that is, non-economic) standards."

Havighurst and Richman conclude, "Congress is making a mistake in ignoring the president's proposal. If voters realized that it is not only the uninsured whom the current system victimizes, would-be reformers of all stripes might finally find a broad constituency willing to support fundamental change" (Havighurst/Richman, Wall Street Journal, 9/6).

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