I’ve got a lot of friends from all parts of the political spectrum. Some agree with me. Some don’t. I’ve got one friend who’s rich (the dot.com boom was very, very good to him), liberal/Progressive, (he’s one of the founders of MoveOn.org) and (naturally) disagrees with me over health care reform. He responded to a post I made on my wall, claiming I was regurgitating right-wing talking points and “worshiping at the altar of the paid lobbyist, Norquist.” I responded by answering him, but instead of simply getting into an argument over the merits of ObamaCare, I turned my attention to what comes next (since it looks like ObamaCare will be repealed, courtesy of the Supreme Court, this summer). It makes little sense to beat a dead horse. What we should ALL be thinking about now is, once ObamaCare is repealed, what replaces it?
I’ve done some thinking on this, and I believe I’m on to something. If we want to move the ball forward as Conservatives, it does no good to simply bash ObamaCare (or what I’m sure the Progressives will come up with to replace it – Son of ObamaCare, ObamaCare II – Jason Dies, Night of the Living ObamaCare, The Bill That Wouldn’t Die).What we need is an alternative – something that we can explain simply to everyone, and get people to buy off on it. I think we need to come up with a ten-point plan for fixing healthcare. Read it, because I’m interested in your feedback. I’d especially like to hear if you can offer any suggestions for making the plan better. Here it is:
1. Pass a series of individual laws that will withstand the test of Constitutionality. We can start with a law that forbids insurance companies from denying insurance to those with pre-existing conditions. Note, this won’t force them to cover them at the same rate as those without pre-existing conditions. It just means they will be able find coverage, even though it will cost more.
2. Enact a law that will allow insurance companies to sell their products nationwide. This will increase competition and reduce prices to consumers.
3. Define a standard for basic insurance coverage, with an emphasis on yearly checkups, catastrophic and emergency coverage, and an affordable deductible for those covered. All insurance companies MUST offer this coverage plan as their “base,” but are free to price it however they like. The government will prevent companies from price-fixing. Let the free market decide pricing. Companies can then offer expanded plans that will cover elective surgeries, cosmetic procedures, etc. The government will have to work with doctors, insurance companies AND consumers to determine what is covered under the basic plan – for instance, heart attacks, strokes, emergency surgeries and breast reconstruction after mastectomies will be covered. Gender reassignment surgeries, breast augmentations and Botox won’t be. People that are living under the poverty line will either get this coverage for free, or at a huge discount, but we must do “means testing” to cut out abuse of the system.
4. Get rid of government price controls on healthcare, especially in Medicare and Medicaid. This will prevent companies like BlueCross and BlueShield from using these guidelines (DRGs) in their own, private coverage. (Price controls do more to drive up the cost of health care than anything.)
5. Offer incentives (in the form of individual tax breaks) to consumers that can achieve and maintain healthy lifestyles. At your yearly checkup, you’ll see how you compare to your previous year’s results and match it against the norm for your age and ethnic group. If you are maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, keeping your cholesterol and BP in check, you get a tax break. If you don’t, you don’t. This provides incentives for people work out and clean up their own acts, but it doesn’t penalize those that don’t – or can’t.
6. Privatize Medicare/Medicaid/etc. – again, the government should be in the standards-setting biz. Not the insurance business.
7. Change patent laws. We should start the patent clock on a drug AFTER it is approved for sale. That way, all the drug companies could plan in advance for how many years they’d have the exclusive.
8. Allow consumers to purchase drugs from Canada, or wherever they like. Let consumers take responsibility for their own medical decisions.
9. Address the shortage of physicians and the ‘brain drain’ in the field, by tort reform, to lower the cost of malpractice insurance, while simultaneously making it easier/faster to weed out bad doctors through a legal process AND by the medical boards (self-policing). I’m not advocating “loser pays” systems, but the kinds of ridiculous, nuisance lawsuits that made John Edwards rich are killing the profession. Offer a Peace Corps-like program where the government would pay for Med School if you A) have the grades, and B) agree to work for 4 years in a part of the country that needs doctors.
10. Reform the FDA. Hire more people to test drugs and to get them approved. Hire more people to oversee food standards at processing plants, and give them the power to shut down plants if they find contamination.
That’s it. That’s the plan. Sounds kind of simple, but the best plans usually are. And I think if we can do this, piece by piece, without the bloat of an omnibus bill, we might stand a chance of making things better and not worse. Do all of these (or even some of them) and we’ll have a MUCH better health care system for everyone.
Your thoughts?
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