National Healthcare Reform:  We believe that the rapid and sustained rise in the cost of healthcare roughly coincides with the advent of government funded healthcare programs for the poor and elderly.   Additionally, due to government regulations and taxes, corporations offered healthcare insurance coverage in lieu of salary increases to employees.  When the burden of payment for healthcare shifted from the individual to a third party, a large measure of competition among healthcare providers was eliminated from the market.  Also, consumer restraint became a thing of the past; studies have shown that  almost a tenfold increase in doctor visits per year result from transferring the payment obligation from the healthcare consumer to a third party, which invariably increases the cost to the payer and results in high premiums.   Healthcare-related litigation has also played a role in the rapid rise in costs.  Any effective measure to reform the U.S. healthcare system must include tort reform, as well as market driven solutions.  In other words, we recommend less government involvement not more.