Ernie Els Scoffs at Losers

I don't believe in government-controlled health care, and I think that what we need to look at is ways in which we can put the consumer in proper charge of their own health care plan, so we can drive the cost down, instead of up.

Part of the problem with our present system, which I think has contributed to skyrocketing costs, is the fact that we have a third-party-payer system. You go home after you get the service, and you don't even know what it costs. If we bought cars that way, what do you think would happen to our car industry?

We need to adopt plans, such as the one that President Bush is talking about, where people can set up tax-deductible medical savings accounts and combine that with catastrophic insurance that will guarantee them against the major liability and at the same time give them greater freedom, greater control, and a greater reward when they are making good, effective judgments on how to get their health care.

This would put them in a better position to actually monitor the relationship between price and quality — and help them keep prices down by not giving their patronage and services to inefficient health care providers.

We also need to redefine what we are trying to pursue. I think the objective of the system should be health, not just health care, and that means taking what we've learned about the importance of diet, exercise, and fitness and including those in our concept of health care.

We need to start putting together an approach that will aim at keeping people healthy, by using the knowledge we have about what needs to be done. Studies show that a lot of the diseases that are now debilitating people, especially in the area of cardiovascular disease, could be eliminated by changes in diet and exercise.

To help lower health care costs, we also need to allow the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and Europe, and do other sensible things — based on free-market principles — that will give consumers greater choice of health care options.