State-based Health Insurance Exchange

The Heritage Foundation a conservative Washington DC-based think tank, believes that freedom of conscience and excellence in health care is not, and must not be allowed to become, mutually exclusive.  The Foundation's position provocatively blends a consumer's need for access to a refundable, individual health care tax credit with a consumer's "right" to choose a health-plan in harmony with deeply-held conscientious beliefs -- advocating for a new system that empowers individuals both economically and ethically.  Interestingly intermingled is the state-based health insurance exchange, a promising development in consumer-based healthcare reform where a single market can offer a wide variety of health plan options.  State actions to create health insurance exchanges and policy changes to make them more effective deserve careful consideration.■