Ramesh: Wholeheartedly agree that the health insurance market is totally distorted, and that we can help families afford insurance. If I seem unsympathetic, it is about just one issue, a welfare program.

The solutions I’d like to see for the overall problem include President Bush’s standard health care deduction, expansion of HSAs, freedom to purchase health insurance across state lines (the Shadegg bill), abolition of most mandates, and subsidized risk pools for the uninsurable. Unfortunately, I fear this will never happen if we start broadening an entitlement like SCHIP until it becomes our single-payer universal health care system.

I look forward to your piece!