Related to my previous post.
Consider public education and public health insurance.
What's your reaction to the idea of school choice programs and educational vouchers? Suppose we were to keep the current levels of public school funding exactly where they are, but allow parents to decide where education funds would be spent based on where they enrolled their children. No change in funding at all - just a shift in control from the government to the citizen.
Consider a very similar plan for providing public health insurance. Instead of a government-run and managed health insurance plan, what if we were to provide individuals who are eligible for public health insurance with a voucher? Something that they can use to purchase their preferred health insurance plan from an existing provider. Again, no change in funding at all - just a shift in control from the government to the citizen.
With regard to government benefits, these types of voucher plans apparently work quite well for food and housing needs. We may argue about whether these programs should even exist, whether they should be scaled back or scaled up... but at least, in their current incarnations, they are implemented efficiently, and in a way that maximizes a citizen's control over his or her life.
If you find the idea of the government giving citizens the same sort of control over their life with regard to education and health insurance unpalatable... tell me: what does that say about where your values and priorities lie?
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