The Muse Health Care Reform Plan
August 19, 2009
Over the years I have been quick to critique our leaders (both Democrats and Republicans) and every once in a while I have proposed my own solution on topics like immigration and taxation. Many of you have asked me what ‘my’ proposal is for health care reform. I decided to take a crack at my own proposal (despite the fact that I woefully unqualified to do so).
Declare Health Insurance to be Interstate Commerce = More competition = Lower prices. The health insurance business is a complete mess. According to the AMA in 94% of metro areas around the US, a single insurer had at least 30% of the market and in 56% of the areas a single insurer had 50% or more of the market. Each state regulates the insurance industry in their state driving up costs and reducing the number of insurance providers. If Congress declared that health insurance was interstate commerce all insurance companies could do business in all 50 states. The federal government could set a single set of regulations and instantly we would have more competition. Competition will equal lower prices for consumers.
Elimination of ‘Defensive Medicine’ = $100-178 billion savings per year. Our justice system forces doctors to conduct medical treatments specifically designed to avoid lawsuits. Most of these procedures are unnecessary and expensive. Of course, this is easy to say, but harder to enact. Representative Tome Price (R-GA), a licensed surgeon, has proposed the HealthCOURT Act that creates a ’safe harbor’ for doctors that agree to embrace a set of clinical best practices. It would exempt doctors from medical malpractice claims for physicians that follow and document best-in-class standards in their treatment.
Reduce Fraud = $200 billion savings potential per year. More than 10% of all health care costs are due directly to fraud. Medicare fraud represents more than $40 billion per year. James R. Frogue’s ‘Stop Paying the Crooks‘ is a road map to various solutions that could help end the fraud in health care. Here are just a few cases of fraud that Frogue’s plans could help prevent – fraud in the news. How can you help? Sign the Center for Health Transformation’s “Stop Fraud First” petition here.
Electronic Health System = $20 billion savings potential per year. Our current paper based health system is amazingly backward. So much paper makes fraud commonplace, allows insurance companies to pay doctors and patients slower and causing unnecessary and costly medical errors. We need to move from our paper based system to an electronic health system.
Tax Reform = more coverage. Take some of the savings from electronic health records, fraud reduction and tort reform and start offering tax incentives and vouchers to Americans who can’t afford coverage. Expand tax incentives for small businesses that offer their workers health insurance (do the same for self-employed folks). Finally eliminate capital gains taxes for investments in health care companies that are searching for ways to improve health care delivery or prevent diseases like AIDS, Cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes.
Okay, this was my first stab at the problem. I spent about 30 minutes thinking about the problem and this post was the result. These are five reforms that would make a huge difference. These reforms leverage the things that are working in our system, while addressing the problems. Can we do more, sure. Lets try to do something NOW. Lets not throw out the system we have for one that is likely to fail.
6 Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
Your reforms seem like some common sense good ideas.
But I don’t see how they address the #1 problem with our health care system. Insurance is just plain unattainable for some people.
Insurance companies refuse to insure people with bad preconditions or drop people once they get sick.
If all of your reforms are enacted, there are still going to be people left out of the system, do you not view that as a problem?
Comment by brian — August 19, 2009 @ 5:14 pm
If we can make insurance more affordable it will be more attainable by definition. My plan seeks to do just that – reduce costs and increase coverage. Once we have a single, national regulatory framework for insurance companies we can easily institute requirements related to pre-existing conditions that prevent some people from accessing health care. Finally, there isn’t a single answer. Fixing the existing system is the first step. Once it is fixed I suspect we will have more resources available to help those who are left out.
Today, we are out of money. We don’t have an extra trillion dollars to cover everyone. We need to reduce costs to be able to extend coverage to every American. Bankrupting the system or rationing treatment is not the answer. Fix it, fix it now. “this message brought to you by my plan to fix health care”
Comment by Alexander Muse — August 19, 2009 @ 5:18 pm
[...] This is just another sensible solution to our current health care mess, a companion to my own proposal for health care reform. [...]
Pingback by Before you ration care, fix our tax system! | Conservative Dallas — August 19, 2009 @ 5:40 pm
[...] Ironically, I think the opposite is likely true. If Democrats continue to ignore the majority of their constituents who oppose ObamaCare they are likely to be voted out of office in large numbers in 2010. Are we willing to let the Democrats euthanize themselves? Of course the answer is no, not if we love our country and want to see it work for Americans. Our current system works imperfectly. Lets fix it, not trash it. Read about my proposal to reform health care here. [...]
Pingback by Public Option, Good or Bad for Democrats? | Conservative Dallas — August 20, 2009 @ 1:11 pm
Alex,
You are a genius. I told you before that you should run for office.
RUN ALEX, RUN…
Great thoughts!
Here are some other great thoughts and ideas from Ron Paul: http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Ron_Paul_Health_Care.htm
I agree with these 7 ideas and position from Ron Paul on health care: 1. Replace Medicaid with volunteer pro-bono medical care
2. Private medical savings accounts, not government meddling
3. Transfer funds from debt & empire-building to healthcare
We have a mess because a lot of people are very dependent on health care. But we’re going broke, with $500 billion going to debt every single year, and we have a foreign policy that is draining us. I say, take care of these poor people. I’m not against that. But save the money someplace. The only place available for us to save it is to change our attitude about running a world empire and bankrupting this country. We can take care of the poor people, save money and actually cut some of our deficit.
Source: 2007 GOP primary debate in Orlando, Florida Oct 21, 2007
4.
Managed care is expensive and hasn’t worked
Q: What does your health care plan contain to address racial disparities in access to care?
A: We’ve had managed care in this country since the early 1970s, and it hasn’t worked well. It’s very, very expensive, and it’s the fault that we changed our ERISA law and our tax laws that created this corporatism that runs medicine. Wall Street rakes off the profits. The patients are unhappy. The doctors are unhappy. And it’s a monopoly now. Who lobbies us in Washington? The drug companies and the HMOs. They come. And now what is the cry for? Socialized medicine. That’s not the answer. We need to get the government out of the way. Inflation hits the middle class and the poor the most. Those are the people who are losing it. We don’t have enough competition. There’s a doctor monopoly out there. We need alternative health care freely available to the people. They ought to be able to make their own choices and not controlled by the FDA preventing them to use some of the medications.
Source: 2007 GOP Presidential Forum at Morgan State University Sep 27, 2007
5. Voted YES on establishing tax-exempt Medical Savings Accounts.
The bill allows all taxpayers to create a tax-exempt account for paying medical expenses called a Medical Savings Account [MSA]. Also, the measure would allow the full cost of health care premiums to be taken as a tax deduction for the self-employed and taxpayers who are paying for their own insurance. The bill would also allow the establishment of “HealthMarts,” regional groups of insurers, health care providers and employers who could work together to develop packages for uninsured employees. Another provision of the bill would establish “association health plan,” in which organizations could combine resources to purchase health insurance at better rates than they could separately.
Reference: Bill sponsored by Talent, R-MO; Bill HR 2990 ; vote number 1999-485 on Oct 6, 1999
6.Abolish federal Medicare entitlement; leave it to states.
Paul adopted the Republican Liberty Caucus Position Statement:
As adopted by the General Membership of the Republican Liberty Caucus at its Biannual Meeting held December 8, 2000.
• WHEREAS libertarian Republicans believe in limited government, individual freedom and personal responsibility;
• WHEREAS we believe that government has no money nor power not derived from the consent of the people;
• WHEREAS we believe that people have the right to keep the fruits of their labor; and
• WHEREAS we believe in upholding the US Constitution as the supreme law of the land;
BE IT RESOLVED that the Republican Liberty Caucus endorses the following [among its] principles:
1. Free market health care alternatives, such as medical savings accounts, should be available to everyone, including senior citizens.
2. The federal entitlement to Medicare should be abolished, leaving health care decision making regarding the elderly at the state, local, or personal level.
Source: Republican Liberty Caucus Position Statement 00-RLC3 on Dec 8, 2000
Comment by Steve Colis — August 20, 2009 @ 2:24 pm
[...] Ironically, more than 30% of all health insurance companies in the United States are ‘not for profit’ – that means they don’t make money. Do we need ‘co-ops’ when we have lots of ‘not for profit’ health insurance companies? I don’t think so. Why not just let ALL insurance companies operate in all 50 states. This would mean more competition and lower costs of regulation. Read more about my plan to reform health care here. [...]
Pingback by Which is more evil? Google or Health Insurance Cos? | Conservative Dallas — August 21, 2009 @ 6:08 pm