“We agree entirely with Governor Romney and Massachusetts legislators that our goal should be 100 percent insurance coverage for all Americans,” Gingrich wrote in 2006
I actually agree with this. Newt is a conservative but he is also a political pragmatist. The whole medical system is in bad shape. The real fixes might be harder than universal health care. And if you look at the criticisms he has of Romneycare they’re pretty good.
Here’ what we need to do right now to fix the health care system without universal health care:
1) Allow hospitals to refuse payment to people who cannot pay. That’s a tough one but hospitals are businesses and if they can’t pay the bills they will close. The loss of a hospital affects many more people than one uninsured.
2) Aggessively pursue those who engage in Medicare and Medicaid fraud and impose harsh penalties for convictions.
3) Tort reform. Liability insurance and lawsuit are a huge cost of any kind of medical practice. I know doctors who have abandoned private practices in order to be under the umbrella of a large hospitals insurance. Lawyers run this country and they look out for other lawyers and always remember they may be back in private practice someday. A loser pays court system similar to many European countries would go a long way towards cutting out frivolous and exploratory lawsuits.
4) Allow insurance companies to sell in any state and allow the market to determine what policies are sold.
5) Require Congress and federal employees to participate in any mandated health care system.
Good ideas. Most of those are in Newt’s health care plan.
http://www.newt.org/solutions/healthcare
People need to get back to “the most conservative candidate who can win” and stop looking for Mr. or Ms. Pure and Perfect. We’re getting to the point where no one but people like Obama who vote “present” every time can be nominated. Everybody has to have a clean record where there’s no chance they’ve ever made a mistake.