ROBERT POLLOCK: Let Consumers Repeal Obamacare.

What consumers need is the ability to shop for policies they can afford. Why not let young people, for example, buy inexpensive policies with high deductibles so that they are covered in case in case of accidents but pay out of pocket for routine care? And why should the 21st century health insurance system be broken up into 50 separate economies when efficiencies and convenience could be had by offering insurance options on a nationwide scale?

One easy way to make this happen is to create an Optional Federal Charter to regulate health insurance. Congress certainly has the power to do this under the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. It could be placed under the authority of the Department of Health and Human Services, which would be tasked by Congress with writing simple rules that ensure the availability of low cost policies nationwide. There would be no coverage mandates and no rules governing the shape of policies such as limits on deductibles and co-pays. Insurers could still be required to cover those with pre-existing conditions and subsidies could still be offered to help those who need them.

The beauty of the Optional Federal Charter solution is that none of the existing rules governing state regulated insurance policies would have to change. Consumers would simply be offered a new choice: purchase a state regulated policy or a federally regulated policy.

States and insurance companies love having their little insurance fiefdoms, for the opportunities presented for corruption and graft.