We don’t need to just repeal it. We need to fix the system. Increase the supply dramatically on the provider side of the equation, and costs can and will come down. Increase competition among insurers. Introduce free market reforms throughout the entire medical system. Reform tort. Comprehensive, thorough reform. Not just repeal.
Love your theory and in a perfect world it would work, but the markets on the provider and facility side are closed due to education requirements, licensure,and regulation.Supply is not elastic.
The Federal government and almost all States impose high income tax rates on Doctors because they happen to have high incomes. At the margins, most doctors have a combined income tax rate over 50%. If we had a flat 10% Federal income tax rate, we’d collect the same total income tax revenue, but Doctors could cut their rates 30% and still come out ahead.
A neurosurgeon in America pays over $200K/yr for malpractice insurance while an equivalent neurosurgeon in Canada pays $30K. How much lower would Doctor’s fees be if malpractice tort was like Canada’s ? In Canada, it isn’t that people aren’t allowed to sue doctors, but their Doctor’s association provides the malpractice coverage and fights every case to discourage nuisance lawsuits. In addition, there are $300K caps on ‘pain and suffering’ damages. So when only ‘economic damages’ can be really large and nuisance lawsuits go away, malpractice insurance costs Canadian doctors a reasonable amount rather than up to 30% for American doctors. And then there is the estimated 10% of doctors’ fees that goes to unnecessary testing known as “defensive medicine”. Apparently Canadian doctors gross only half what American doctors do, but actually have similar net income.
So if we stop punishing doctors for their success, and stop rewarding lawyers for bringing nuisance suits, it seems like we could cut the cost of health care in half.