PA High in Health Insurance Premiums

After talking with business owners from around the country at a recent event, I realized businesses inPA are getting a raw deal. Indeed, we're paying significantly more than average for health insurance, which makes our businesses less competitive.

Tom Knox is running for Governor of PA, and I'm very interested in this race and the candidates so I was perusing his site today and came across this article penned by Knox himself, a former owner of an insurance company (among other things; he made apparently made a lot of money on those high-interest pay-day loans, which are targetted at the working poor and cut into their earnings significantly. Not what I'd call a socially just business, but that's for another day).

Knox asserts rightly that PA businesses pay higher than other states. But he makes the argument that competition will right the ship. In no state does competition achieve the goals of

1. covering everyone with comprehensive healthcare regardless of employment
2. eliminating the high cost of defensive medicine
3. dramatically reduce costs for businesses, municipalities, nonprofits, and schools
4. attracting new businesses.

If Knox's article indicates his approach to the health and well being of the people and businesses of PA, then I'm still looking for the right candidate for Governor. Next?