Working in the same building as Michael Cannon, I’ve learned that government-created third-party payer is a big problem with America’s healthcare system. Simply stated, people won’t be smart consumers and providers won’t compete to keep costs low when the vast majority of expenses are paid for either by government programs or by insurance companies.

That’s why I want to see reforms to Medicare and Medicaid, not only to save money for taxpayers, but also because entitlement reform is one of the steps that is needed if we want market forces to bring down the cost of health care. And I want to see a flat tax, not only for the pro-growth impact of lower tax rates, but also because it gets rid of the Internal Revenue Code’s health care exclusion, thus ending the distortion that encourages over-insurance.

With all that in mind, I’m obviously a big fan of the new video, below, from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity. Narrated by Julie Borowski from FreedomWorks, the video explains that third-party payer has been a growing problem for decades and that it would have required fixing even if the Supreme Court hadn’t botched the Obamacare decision.

Now that we’re stuck with Obamacare, at least temporarily, it’s more important than ever to deal with this underlying problem.

P.S.: This new video expands upon the analysis provided in a previous CF&P video.

P.P.S.: Setting aside the debate over the morality of abortion, the abortion market is an interesting case study of how prices don’t rise when consumers pay out of pocket.

P.P.P.S.: Government-created third-party payer also is screwing up the market for higher education.