Finally, to what extent are we willing to use public funds to reduce the number of those who are uninsured, for example, by providing subsidies to low-income people not covered by Medicaid or to people, such as the self-employed, who find it difficult to obtain affordable coverage in the non-group market? How would we finance additional spending?
For instance, would we consider limiting the employers' tax exemption for the cost of employee health insurance? The issue of access to health care, though difficult politically, is in some sense the technically least complex of the three challenges I have identified; it is mostly about financing, and possibly regulation, rather than about medicine.