How about replacing it with supply and demand.
Freedom. The Constitution leaves healthcare to the states and people. It’s none of the fed’s business.
Let the states figure it out? Washington state had 12 insurance companies doing business in the state. The state legislature ordered those companies to insure previous conditions plus several other things like not being able to pick and choose what coverage you wanted, you had to bundle it with what the state said. Now we have just two doing business here and premiums have skyrocketed over it. There’s a choice - let the government regulate the insurance companies or let the people decide who they’ll insure with thus deciding the market.
Cash only.
no “health corridors”
no limited coverage areas
buy across state lines
pay cash when able
blah blah
They need to re-legalize “catastrophic” plans, enable people to buy insurance across states lines, and set-up a nation-wide pool for those few people who were not able to get insurance before. They also need to make the cost 100% tax deductible like it is for employers now. And also include some protection for religious people (and others) who don’t feel like buying Sandra Fluke her birth control.
Healthcare is messed up BECAUSE of fifty years of government intervention. Free it up and it bets better. Government needs to give the power back to people to make decisions and purchase directly from doctors, and allow the marketplace to establish catastrophic insurance options. It will lover medical costs to consumers and lower insurance costs. Buying knee surgery should be no different than going to get Lasik or a face-lift. There should be a price tag associated with it, and the consumer decides to purchase based on the cost. The insurance kicks in for major injuries or illnesses.
Frankly, the best thing that could come out of post Obamacare is to use it as a steppingstone to decouple employment from insurance. Make it a tax deduction for individuals just like it is for employers. Ween people off that so they buy medical just like car insurance.
bttt
NOPE!...leave it be!...All my liberal friends that work are WILD!...The ones that don't work could give a shit..they figure they'll just go to the Emergency Room as usual...Nobody has addressed this yet!!...but they will!!!!!
Nothing. The state should not be involved.
I am no economist, and truth be told not even all that smart.
But how about...we let insurance companies ask customers “What do you need in an insurance plan? Catastrophic coverage only? Coverage of every malady and every personal whim known to man? Coverage for A,B and C and not for D,E and F? Well, here’s some offers.”
Let the customer decide, and let the insurance companies tailor their products accordingly in order to offer an affordable product that lets them earn a profit. And allow hospitals to refuse people who walk into emergency rooms with things that do not qualify as emergencies unless they PAY. “Your left buttcheek hurts and you have no insurance and no cash? There’s the door, use it or I kick you in the right one.”
Spaghetti. Everybody likes spaghetti.
And if the states should ultimately decide, after experimenting with their individual healthcare programs, that the feds could run a national healthcare like Democratcare better than the states can (ahem), then there is nothing stopping the states from exercising their constitutional Article V powers to grant the feds the specific power to establish such a program.
How much do veterinarians charge?
Adam Smith’s invisible hand will undo the Gordian knot.
Obviously, insurers would prefer a system wherein they can make the most money
And, by definition, the system wherein they'd make the most money would be the system that would attract the most customers.
And wasn't that the point...???
I would like to see a car insurance/phone contract-type solution for health care. First, let people buy insurance a la carte and across state lines. Second, let people form their own healthcare coaltions with family and friends and compete for lower rates and share the cost of the premium. That’s my simplistic take on the whole thing.
I strongly disagree that there was a minor problem before.
It was a similar problem only at the State level with State legislatures and insurance board limiting competition. Now the Federal government is doing the same thing ... so nothing has changed in that regard.
All that has changed is that now we are forced by law to purchase from insurance monopolies ... but the monopolies were there before and there now.
What needs to be done it to get rid of the monopolies.