Ken Nelson

The currently proposed health care bill would ruin our healthcare system. But proponents of it suggest it is all we can do.  That is, of course, nonsense.

When considering what “to do” about healthcare it is important to identify, first, the exact problems you are aiming at.

The only “problems” I have with our current system are:

• rapid cost increases well ahead of normal consumer cost rises
• that many people who can afford to pay get a free ride

I would address the first problem with these Federal steps:

• permit insurance to be sold across state lines. This enhances competition.
• Change the taxation of law firms so as to strongly discourage losing suits. Much of the cost of our system is caused by medicine done for legal defense, not health. This would discourage that cost.
• Provide strong tax advantages for employers to fund employees medical savings and medical insurance accounts with similar dollars to what they spend now on a second party payer system.  This puts cost analysis in the healthcare recipients hands and makes them less likely to demand unnecessary treatment.
• I would strongly enforce our immigration laws. This will remove billions in cost from our medical system. 

The second problem is thornier. I do not wish, for instance, to force health 20 year old men to join a pool of aging 70+ men.  I do not, however, want to pay for the 20 year olds motorcycle accident.  I would resolve this simply, and in a manner reminiscent of some mechanisms in this current monstrosity of a bill by:

• Taxing at 25% of non adjusted income any individual that did not have a qualified catastrophic health care insurance package (determined by the Surgeon General) and denying any dependent deductions and exemptions for those who didn’t have plans for same dependents.
• Using any proceeds from the above to compensate states partially for health care delivered to uninsured people.

Note I don’t have the government providing health care, or seriously funding it. Instead I decide, at a national level, that since we as a nation do not wish to deny people care, we will instead motivate them to properly insure themselves.

These changes would reduce our cost growth while retaining the strong incentive to improve care, technology and drugs.  Because people feel their health care costs, they also have more cause to take care of themselves.

Simple and I betcha it could be written in less than 50 pages.