Jindal On Healthcare: Give States The Tools, And Let Them Do The Job

In an opinion piece published by Fox News, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal outlined a plan he has endorsed that would provide a solution to the rising cost of healthcare and that provides "true change America can believe in."

Jindal's plan would create a $100 billion grant program "that incentivizes our 'laboratories of democracy'—the states—to come up with insurance reforms and other solutions that can stem the rising tide of health costs."

The plan would also maintain the safety net for the country's most vulnerable citizens. States applying for the grant would have to guarantee access to those citizens with pre-existing conditions through maintaining either a high-risk pool, re-insurance, or some other mechanism.

The Jindal plan would also make insurance more "portable" by providing more insurance options or by allowing folks to keep their current plan if they are happy with it.

"They won’t have to worry about it getting taken away by some government bureaucrat saying it doesn’t comply with a new mandate," Jindal wrote.

Jindal said a Congressional Budget Office analysis of a similar state-based approach could lower premiums on the individual health insurance market by $5,000 per year.