A Winning Alternative to Obamacare ["pave the way for full repeal"]

Coburn's plan was to tax health benefits. This plan does NOT do that...

A Winning Alternative to Obamacare/Socialism

THE FREE MARKET. Best wealth-building, anti-poverty program known to man.

In the case of health care, as with many other areas, health costs went south beginning in the 70's because of government interference. Government is the CAUSE, not the solution of affordability issues with health care. Obamacare will make matters worse. As Reagan said, "Government is not the solution, government is the problem.

I basically like the idea in the OP.

However, the first step for the federal government to be legally able to regulate public healthcare in any way is the following. The states need to amend the Constitution to delegate to Congress the specific power to regulate healthcare. Constitution-ignoring Democrats wrongly ignored that very important step when they rammed ~~Obamacare~~ Democratcare down our throats.

Problem#1...before those listed, is that people don’t own their own health insurance.

After recognizing that, then proceed down the other issues.

The RINO’s just don't get it. What in the hell is the government doing with their fingers in Americans private health-care in the first place. This so called “conservative plan” keeps the governments fingerprints on Americas health-care, while allowing some free market companies to continue to operate. The RINO’s have accepted big government control over the American people, they think they can do it better and with a less intrusive way.

Repeal! Repeal! Repeal!

Let the free market drive the cost of health-care down and keep the government out of our private health-care PERIOD!

Health Care Reform by John Mackey, Whole Foods CEO

• Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs). The combination of high-deductible health insurance and HSAs is one solution that could solve many of our health-care problems. For example, Whole Foods Market pays 100% of the premiums for all our team members who work 30 hours or more per week (about 89% of all team members) for our high-deductible health-insurance plan. We also provide up to $1,800 per year in additional health-care dollars through deposits into employees' Personal Wellness Accounts to spend as they choose on their own health and wellness. Money not spent in one year rolls over to the next and grows over time. Our team members therefore spend their own health-care dollars until the annual deductible is covered (about $2,500) and the insurance plan kicks in. This creates incentives to spend the first $2,500 more carefully. Our plan's costs are much lower than typical health insurance, while providing a very high degree of worker satisfaction.

• Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits. Now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible, but individual health insurance is not. This is unfair.

• Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state and we should be able use that insurance wherever we live. Health insurance should be portable.

• Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.

• Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. These costs are passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.

• Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last doctor's visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?

• Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.

• Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren't covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

The original editorial is here: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html

Here is one FR link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2313920/posts

Why should millions of Americans who get insurance through their employer get a tax break,

Do they?

I thought the employers got the break.

I really was impressed with the Whole Foods approach when the article was published. I also pulled up some numbers from the government after reading the article. At the time ObamaCare was being debated, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services had government expenditures per person on health care of $3866 per year. Also at that time, the Federal Benefits Handbook was offering nation wide a high deductible plan that included covered preventive medical, vision and dental care services paid at 100% in network along with prescription benefits at $3216.46 per year. In other words, the government could have just bought everyone in the country a high deductible plan and saved about $200 billion that could have been used to assist low income persons with their deductibles. Personally, I’ve been an advocate of the FairTax plan where the prebates would be paid into a health savings account and you could access funds above your deductible. This would provide incentive to control health care costs which none of the other plans have.