Ideas for fixing Obamacare
Cheers for The Denver Post’s extensive review of the current major issues in health care, but regrets for the mostly narrow focus of the discussions. Decades of political demagoguery have put a stranglehold on the agenda such that objective, honest and useful debate never happens. The focus of the Post review was clearly on stabilizing our health care markets and protecting them from presidential sabotage. Few remarks were directed at efforts to reduce the costs of providing actual care, which should obviously get most of our attention. We need to open up and broaden out our view. The Post should devote as much effort on in-depth reporting on global best practices since we know that we are by far the least efficient among developed nations. How many trillions of dollars could be kept from the national debt if we were as efficient as European countries?
In last Sunday’s letters on health care, only one letter came close to proposing my preferred system. Letter-writer Fred Degiorgio proposed two ideas: “First: Setting the requirements of a basic plan. Second: A tax credit would be given upon proof of insurance.” In addition, I would do away with tax deduction on employer-provided insurance. That helps the fully employed and well-off, but not those who most need help. Medicaid could also be eliminated and replaced by the tax credit in Degiorgio’s second suggestion. Money for the credit would come from current expense of Medicaid, a tax break to employers and money currently spent on Obamacare. This would minimize government involvement in health care, provide a market-based insurance business that would bring down cost through competition, and allow people to buy what they want, with the assist to low-income people.
The Denver Post did an excellent job of presenting different perspectives on health care. Some effort to compare and contrast three of the approaches would be illuminating. Gov. John Hickenlooper points out that “If more Coloradans are uninsured, the costs of uncompensated care are passed along to businesses (and their employees).” Rep. Mike Coffman says, “I still believe it is excessive for the federal government to force Americans to buy health insurance.” Sen. Michael Bennet chips in with, “In rural areas especially, Coloradans tell me their few options for insurance come with deductibles so high they are practically useless.”
Underlying these quotes is a nasty enigma: Without a mandate to coerce the younger (and for the most part healthier) members of society to contribute to health care, businesses and their employees will continue to see costs spiral out of control, while out-of-pocket expenses for the employees of those businesses skyrocket, and those who are under-served see their plight continue to deteriorate.
Making younger Americans part of the solution appears to be the only viable solution to truly affordable health care for Americans.