The Washington Post has a story about the limited options for those who are without health insurance but who are not eligible for government health care programs. Unfortunately, it's a pretty shoddy piece that doesn't explore options like HSAs. And while it mentions that health insurance is expensive, it doesn't mention why it is expensive. Since the woman at the center of the story is from Maryland, one of the reasons she has such limited options is because our state is one of the worst in imposing government mandates on the health care choices of its residents (it ranks 39 in the Index of Health Ownership).

As long as reporters like this fail to seek the story behind the current health insurance mess we are going to be faced with a public that doesn't understand just how government policies drive up the cost of insurance and limit consumer choice.