I finally got to make it to the bloggers briefing at Heritage this afternoon, after a too long hiatus to hear Rep. Michael Burgess (TX-26) talk to us about the always relevant issue of health care reform.

Dr. Burgess is also the Vice Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee (disclosure: whose new website DAG proudly developed).

Burgess helped draft John McCain's health care plan which seeks to give individuals greater control over their own health care.

Here's what Burgess had to say in an article written on the subject in CQ:

Burgess, however, said it’s a logical step away from a system in which corporate employee benefits managers make all the decisions about what kind of health coverage most people get. “The reality is, we would never say, could you go out and buy my next car for me, because you’re pretty good at it,” Burgess said. “Perhaps we need to start looking at health insurance in the same way.”

A Long-Term Relationship
Burgess described how the McCain plan would incentivize providers to build long-term relationships with consumers - health care portability. As opposed to the current structure of employer financed care where coverage ends whenever a employee switches jobs.

One concern I've heard voiced is that the McCain plan, by creating tax incentives for individuals to buy their own health care, will loosen the incentives on employers to pay for health care - particularly in the case of small businesses.

Burgess disputed this, saying the McCain plan wouldn't remove the employer tax incentives - only add individual ones.

He noted that when discussing health care it's important to leave people with the notion that they don't have to change. If you like your current health care plan, you can keep it. He noted that 62% of people in his home district are satisfied with their existing care. Bottom line: be careful about rocking the health care boat.

Overall, listening to him speak, I was blown away by Rep. Burgess' Encyclopedic knowledge of the health care issue. For example, he explained to us how pediatricians have the tightest profit margins in health care, as opposed to a neurologist for example. A recent piece of Democrat sponsored legislation would have further cut into the margins for pediatricians, having the perverse effect of driving the vast majority of pediatric doctors out of medicine. Not exactly good for patients, no?

Finally, for those of you with short attention spans [Ed Note: That's like everyone now days.] you can watch a web ad of McCain talking about his health care plan.