A CITIZEN’S PROPOSED HEALTHCARE SOLUTION
(1) Repeal Obamacare and all related taxes.
(2) Healthcare Savings Accounts (HSA) – Unlimited tax deduction for contributions to an HSA. Tax-free payment of your own health costs out of the HSA. Additional charitable tax deduction for payment of another persons’ health costs out of your HSA (not your dependents).
(3) Outlaw health insurance for routine healthcare and specialists (costs up to a certain amount, say 10,000.00 per person). Get the insurance companies OUT of the equation, as their intervention has destroyed the economics of the market; that way people can make their own healthcare decisions and doctors will have to compete for business (which they have never had to do, as the insurance companies funnel business to them, thereby reducing patient choice).
(4) ROUTINE HEALTHCARE - People can join local DIRECT PAY cooperatives (I’ve seen deals where you can pay 50.00 per month to a local doctor for a “membership” – this will cover routine matters). Example: http://directpcc.com/ If your earnings are less than the poverty level, then you get a scalable tax credit up to 600.00 per year to pay for your own routine healthcare, to be paid directly by the IRS to a LOCAL doctor for membership in his direct pay plan (YOU choose the doctor – if you do not choose, the IRS chooses for you). If you make more than the poverty level, you must pay the membership fee – if you do not and you suddenly need routine healthcare, you can pay a penalty of twice the average membership rate for six months or a year up front and then get served.
(5) CATASTROPHIC HEALTH INSURANCE - Mandate purchase of catastrophic health insurance (services/costs on matters for more than 10,000.00, for example), which by statute can be sold by insurance companies across state lines. These policies will have mandated types of coverage, including pre-existing illness. The cost will be relatively low (applies only to catastrophies) – and with competition will get lower. The same government assistance via tax credit would be available to indigents for catastrophic coverage (just like for routine care, as judged by poverty level). Failure to pay for catastrophic coverage when NOT indigent will result in a penalty of twice the average catastrophic rate for all times not covered – to be collected by the IRS and paid to the insurance company of the taxpayer/patient’s choice. This will more than pay for the pre-existing illness coverage required of catastrophic policies.
(6) ANTI-TRUST – Force all doctors and hospitals to PUBLICIZE their rates for services/procedures for both routine and catastrophic issues (this stimulates competition amongst healthcare providers). Vigorous enforcement by the United States Attorney of failure to publicize rates and price-fixing activities by doctors/hospitals/insurance companies.
(7) MEDICAL MALPRACTICE – In exchange for doctors/hospitals now having to compete, impose a cap of 500,000.00 on all medical malpractice suits, and require a medical review panel to review every case before filed in court – the case can still be filed if the medical review panel disagrees. True, medial review panels have proved to be a farce to date, but with the renewed competition, doctors will be looking to distinguish themselves from the competition.
(8) POLITICIANS AND ALL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES – Everybody is subject to the SAME system, no exceptions. Any politician, Republican or Democrat, who so much as calendars a bill to provide for special or separate treatment of politicians shall be hanged by the neck until dead (and any judge who fails to impose the punishment shall be second in line). Period.
There, everybody should be happy. Democrats get a government-run program (financing routine and catastrophic care for indigents via a new tax credit program), and Republicans get competition that means something in the market. The market is allowed to work for both routine and catastrophic situations, and the government forces people to be covered for the expensive issues.