CDHP? Elizabeth Edwards isn't buying it

Elizabeth Edwards is the latest to take umbrage at the notion that consumerism can be applied to health insurance. From the Wonk Room:

Today, in her testimony before the Subcommittee on Health, CAPAF Senior Fellow Elizabeth Edwards strongly criticized so-called consumer-driven health care models for erroneously equating health insurance with other consumer goods. “We’re not selling toilet paper here, we’re not selling televisions, we are selling an essential part of people’s lives and it needs to be thought of that way.”

I agree that health insurance isn't a consumer item like a toaster. However, it is useful to turn on some aspect of the consumer/shopper brain when consuming health care. The mistake is to take things to an extreme.