Three most important health reform questions

To my mind, the three most important issues in the design of a new health reform program are these:

1. should employer plans enjoy unlimited tax deductions for health benefits; and should employers who don't offer insurance be taxed?
2. should all uninsured people be forced to enroll, and be taxed (or jailed...just kidding) if they go uninsured? (Too poor? That's where subsidies come in.)
3. Should there be a Medicare-like public plan offered along-side the competing private plans in the regulated marketplace that would be set up under the program?

I'm sure my former colleagues at CBO at dealing with many more questions than these, but these are the three that will determine whether we ever get a viable program that actually covers all Americans without ruining the health care system in one way or another.

I'm going to start with question number 3 in my next blog, because I'm most confused about it. I started out VERY certain about what the program should look like in this regard, but the more I think about it the less certain I get. Next post will try to lay out the pros and cons of that.