Summaries of a number of recent editorials and opinion pieces on the health care proposals that President Bush announced in his State of the Union address appear below.

Editorials

• Albany Times Union: Bush proposed "greater tax benefits" for individuals who enroll in high-deductible health plans associated with health savings accounts, a proposal that is "veering in the direction of privatization," a Times Union editorial states. However, the editorial asks, "How many of the more than 45 million people without insurance are helped by such a plan?" (Albany Times Union, 2/1).
  
  
• Charlotte Observer: Bush "offered both reassurances and some practical approaches" on health care and other issues, according to an Observer editorial. The editorial adds, "If Republicans unite behind the president's practical, uncontroversial proposals, they could establish a record of accomplishment that would serve them and the nation well" (Charlotte Observer, 2/1).
  
  
• Christian Science Monitor: HSAs "need to be put in perspective" and are "an experiment worth developing," a Monitor editorial states. Opponents "should remember that companies which offer HSAs have seen them significantly control costs"; attract the uninsured, who comprise about one-third of individuals with the accounts; and "support the welcome principle that health choice is an individual matter" (Christian Science Monitor, 2/2).
  
  
• Cincinnati Enquirer: A proposal by Bush for a "bipartisan commission to study the economic impact of Baby Boomer retirements on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid" is "intriguing and welcome," according to an Enquirer editorial. However, the editorial states, "It remains to be seen how much attention by the public, the Congress and the president can be turned to these domestic issues while the war is still foremost on everyone's mind" (Cincinnati Enquirer, 2/1).
  
  
• Florida Times-Union: Proposals to reform the medical malpractice system, increase tax deductions for out-of-pocket medical expenses, expand HSAs and allow small businesses to form association health plans all served as "major components" in the State of the Union address, a Times-Union editorial states. The proposals should "help reverse" the "troubling trend" of health care cost increases, the editorial adds (Florida Times-Union, 2/2).
  
  
• Wichita Eagle: Bush "fell far short in his plans for healing health care," with "so many senior citizens and vulnerable Americans still wrestling with the Medicare changes," an Eagle editorial states. Although HSAs "are a valuable tool," they are "likely too modest to make much difference to the 45 million who are uninsured and the others dealing with rising costs and declining access. He and Congress must do more" (Wichita Eagle, 2/1).

Opinion Pieces

• Neal Patterson, Kansas City Star: A proposal for a bipartisan commission to study the effect that baby boomer retirements will have on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security is a "good start," but "it will take more than a commission," Patterson, chair and CEO of Cerner, writes in a Star opinion piece, adding, "It will require a new paradigm -- a national effort to actually put a 'system' into U.S. health care." He concludes, "Entitlement reform will take vision and leadership on both sides of the political aisle. Hopefully, Washington will turn its attention to the topic before the collective retirement of the boomers brings the party to an avertable halt" (Patterson, Kansas City Star, 2/2).
  
  
• Diane Stafford, Kansas City Star: "If you ... wanted a solution to our nation's rising health care cost woes, you didn't get it from the State of the Union address," Stafford writes in a Star opinion piece. She says that "it didn't get nearly the time or depth of attention to properly explain health savings accounts or signal their priority for the year," adding, "Too bad. It is past time for an overhaul to the way health care is delivered and paid for in this nation" (Stafford, Kansas City Star, 2/2).
  
  
• Steve Moore, "Marketplace": The U.S. should separate health insurance from employment to allow companies to "concentrate on what they do best," Moore, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, says in a commentary on APM's "Marketplace." According to Moore, "If companies don't get out of the business of health care, the big problem in America won't be workers without health insurance, it will be workers without jobs" (Moore, "Marketplace," APM, 2/1).
  
  The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
  
  
• Zanny Minton-Beddoes, "Marketplace Morning Report": The U.S. health care system is "breathtaking both in its extravagance and its inefficiency," Minton-Beddoes, an economics correspondent for the Economist, says in a commentary on APM's "Marketplace Morning Report." According to Minton-Beddoes, "the problem [with] the health care debate is that we can all diagnose the illness, but no one can agree on a remedy," and the health care proposals that Bush announced in his State of the Union address allow ideology to "triumph over good sense" (Minton-Beddoes, "Marketplace Morning Report," APM, 1/31).
  
  The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.
  
  
• Richard Ralston, Orange County Register: "Bush devoted a paragraph to health care" -- two sentences to HSAs and one sentence that called for reforms to the medical malpractice system -- in his State of the Union address, and "it seems that more could be said about those issues," Ralston, publishing manager of the Ayn Rand Institute, writes in a Register opinion piece. However, "the greatest omission in the president's address was any discussion of the proper role of government in health care and the principles upon which health care policy should be based" (Ralston, Orange County Register, 2/2).
  
  
• Herb Field, Patriot-News: The "prospect" that the Bush administration "now wants to try its hand at 'reforming' the entire $1.9 trillion health care sector" is "scary," Field writes in a Patriot-News opinion piece. "Better that you bear more of your own medical costs so that you see the doctor less, allow your sniffle to turn into pneumonia, and stay home and die" based on the health care proposals that Bush announced in his State of the Union address, Fields writes, adding that "Bush is right about one thing: The world's most expensive health care system is in trouble" (Fields, Patriot-News, 2/1).
  
  
• David Broder, Washington Post: Bush "surprised" Democrats and Republicans "by suggesting a bipartisan congressional commission to tackle the big entitlement programs," syndicated columnist Broder writes in a Post opinion piece, adding, "Commissions are often devices for postponing action, but the only way to deal with his issue is through bipartisan agreement -- and Bush has opened the door to that possibility." However, Broder writes that his health proposals are "more meager" (Broder, Washington Post, 2/2).
  
  
• George Will, Washington Post: Bush "must fashion policies that are responsive to" the "national consensus" that "Washington should do it" but "will not cause fissures in his conservative base. Hence health savings accounts," syndicated columnist Will writes in a Post opinion piece. Will writes, "HSAs are a distilled essence of the conservative agenda of giving individuals incentives to augment their own security, thereby reducing the demand for, and hence the supply of, government," adding, "HSAs offend Democrats who understand the potential threat HSAs pose to the 'progressive' agenda of maximizing equality, understood as shared dependence on a government-defined ethic of common provision" (Will, Washington Post, 2/2).
  
  
• Robert Goldberg, Washington Times: Although "making Medicare choices on your own is scary, just try using" HSAs, Goldberg, director of the Manhattan Institute Center for Medical Progress, writes in a Times opinion piece. He adds that "there is an agreement among mostly liberal policymakers, journalists and advocacy types that people are too stupid to make complex health care decisions" (Goldberg, Washington Times, 2/2).
  
  
• Morton Kondracke, Washington Times: "The responsible answer to the nation's fiscal fix is to cut back Social Security and Medicare benefits, preferably on a means-tested basis, and raise taxes," Roll Call Executive Editor Kondracke writes in a Times opinion piece. He adds, "But in the current polarized environment in Washington, D.C., Republicans want only tax cuts and benefit reductions. Democrats want bigger benefits ... and tax increases" (Kondracke, Washington Times, 2/2).