Posted by Sir Four at 12:53pm Jul 4 '09The best healthcare reform option that can realistically happen right now is this:
-Establish a national insurance plan to compete with private insurers.
-Allow individuals to choose which they want.
-Give vouchers to low-income individuals to subsidize their insurance costs.
-The national plan must be able to negotiate for lower prices with all service/product suppliers.
-Doctors must not be required to participate in the national plan.
-Employers who do not provide insurance to their employees must contribute to a national healthcare fund (with exemptions for small businesses).
-Employer-provided health insurance coverage for employees must lose its tax-exempt status.
-Individuals must not be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions by any insurance plan.
In fact, these above points are very similar to what is favored by many Democrats in Congress right now. To debunk some anti-reform propaganda:
"The Democrats' plan means a government take-over of the healthcare industry. It's nationalized healthcare."
No, nationalized healthcare would mean the government takes over all hospitals, all doctors become employees of the government, etc. What we are in fact talking about is the government providing an alternative health insurance option. It is government involvement at the insurance level, not the service provider level.
"Eventually everyone (businesses, individuals) will find it cheaper to migrate to the government plan and there will be no private insurance industry."
The government plan must be on an equal footing with private insurers so that they can compete fairly. If it turns out that the government plan is superior in cost, it is a failing of the private plans.
"Doctors will leave the profession because the government plan will force them to lower prices too much."
The government plan must not force doctors to work with the plan. And if you find your prefered doctors are not accepting the government plan, that would make a private insurance plan more attractive to you. This is the market at work. The government plan could not pay doctors too little or else it will not maintain a robust network of doctors.
"Do you want a government bureaucrat coming between you and your doctor?"
It's no different than an insurance company bureaucrat who does the same thing. But again, if the government plan is providing poor service it will suffer in the marketplace.
"The government can't do anything right, and this will be a failure."
If so, then the private insurers will win out. Also, liberal Democratic ideas will be discredited and conservative Republicans will return to power.
"Great Britain has a poor record on treating diseases X, Y, and Z. Why would we imitate their system?"
That's selective comparisons, plus choosing Great Britain itself is deceptive since there are numerous other countries (France, Germany, Japan, Norway) with well-run plans that are superior to Great Britain's. Also, despite the flaws, one must note that Great Britain spends less on healthcare than we do. We spend a higher portion of GDP on healthcare than any other nation, yet get mediocre results from it and fail to cover everybody (Great Britain spends less and does cover everybody).
Well let's have a debate!
-Establish a national insurance plan to compete with private insurers.
-Allow individuals to choose which they want.
-Give vouchers to low-income individuals to subsidize their insurance costs.
-The national plan must be able to negotiate for lower prices with all service/product suppliers.
-Doctors must not be required to participate in the national plan.
-Employers who do not provide insurance to their employees must contribute to a national healthcare fund (with exemptions for small businesses).
-Employer-provided health insurance coverage for employees must lose its tax-exempt status.
-Individuals must not be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions by any insurance plan.
In fact, these above points are very similar to what is favored by many Democrats in Congress right now. To debunk some anti-reform propaganda:
"The Democrats' plan means a government take-over of the healthcare industry. It's nationalized healthcare."
No, nationalized healthcare would mean the government takes over all hospitals, all doctors become employees of the government, etc. What we are in fact talking about is the government providing an alternative health insurance option. It is government involvement at the insurance level, not the service provider level.
"Eventually everyone (businesses, individuals) will find it cheaper to migrate to the government plan and there will be no private insurance industry."
The government plan must be on an equal footing with private insurers so that they can compete fairly. If it turns out that the government plan is superior in cost, it is a failing of the private plans.
"Doctors will leave the profession because the government plan will force them to lower prices too much."
The government plan must not force doctors to work with the plan. And if you find your prefered doctors are not accepting the government plan, that would make a private insurance plan more attractive to you. This is the market at work. The government plan could not pay doctors too little or else it will not maintain a robust network of doctors.
"Do you want a government bureaucrat coming between you and your doctor?"
It's no different than an insurance company bureaucrat who does the same thing. But again, if the government plan is providing poor service it will suffer in the marketplace.
"The government can't do anything right, and this will be a failure."
If so, then the private insurers will win out. Also, liberal Democratic ideas will be discredited and conservative Republicans will return to power.
"Great Britain has a poor record on treating diseases X, Y, and Z. Why would we imitate their system?"
That's selective comparisons, plus choosing Great Britain itself is deceptive since there are numerous other countries (France, Germany, Japan, Norway) with well-run plans that are superior to Great Britain's. Also, despite the flaws, one must note that Great Britain spends less on healthcare than we do. We spend a higher portion of GDP on healthcare than any other nation, yet get mediocre results from it and fail to cover everybody (Great Britain spends less and does cover everybody).
Well let's have a debate!
The Best Healthcare Reform Option Is: - Sir Four