{"id":769,"date":"2014-03-26T10:54:15","date_gmt":"2014-03-26T14:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jparnell.com\/blog\/?p=769"},"modified":"2014-03-26T10:54:15","modified_gmt":"2014-03-26T14:54:15","slug":"the-obamacare-alternative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/?p=769","title":{"rendered":"The Obamacare Alternative"},"content":{"rendered":"

There might be one last chance to get rid of Obamacare IF the right people are elected and IF legislators are willing to take a bold stance. When I state my opposition to Obamacare, I am frequently asked what I would do to \u201csolve the problem.\u201d I put a proposal on the table before the Affordable Care Act<\/em> was passed, but it\u2019s time to address it again. You might not like everything I have to say, but don\u2019t decide until you read the entire post. I\u2019ll try to keep it as short as possible.<\/p>\n

First things first\u2026we must identify the problem, and it must be significant enough to warrant government action. It\u2019s a problem when Americans without insurance get hit with a huge medical bill. They get treated anyway (EMTALA), so either the bill either destroys them financially or gets passed along to the taxpayer, or both. This problem is substantial and it MIGHT warrant government action IF the action actually helps solve it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a problem when Americans do not take care of day-to-day health issues because they choose not to. The CHOICE to which I refer includes those who \u201ccannot afford\u201d to go to the doctor but seem to find a way to pay for their cars, cell phones, and cable TV. This is an unfortunate situation, but it is not a problem that warrants government action. As a matter of fact, Washington is already doing too much harm in this area already.<\/p>\n

Distinguishing between these two types of problems is important because those on the left emphasize the first kind when proposing alleged solutions to the second kind. In other words, they carp about the $100,000 cancer bill that wipes out a family and offer all-inclusive Obamacare as the solution. If you have a mouse loose in your kitchen you need a mousetrap, not complete fumigation of your entire property.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s talk about the first problem, catastrophic health care. Even if you don\u2019t like the idea of the government paying for anyone\u2019s healthcare, EMTALA already guarantees it and this policy is not going to change. Besides, this is the problem that concerns many Americans. If you don\u2019t address it, you won\u2019t gain enough momentum to win the battle. I suggest that we do the following legislatively as a package:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Repeal Obamacare.<\/li>\n
  2. Provide a government-financed, basic catastrophic healthcare plan to all American citizens not on Medicare. For example, it might pay 75% of medical bills in excess of $15,000 per individual per year. The plan would be administered by insurance companies base don a bidding process. You don\u2019t choose your doctor or your hospital. The idea here is to make a catastrophe manageable, NOT pay the entire bill or provide special benefits. If that\u2019s not good enough for you, then you need to purchase an additional policy on your own.<\/li>\n
  3. Finance the catastrophic plan with a payroll tax added to Social Security. This means that ALL WAGE EARNERS must pay for it up to the current wage limit.<\/li>\n
  4. Americans who buys their own policies get a credit for the average basic catastrophic healthcare cost. For the sake of argument, let\u2019s assume that this is $1500 per person per year. When someone purchases a more complete policy (i.e., lower limits, choose your own doctor, etc.), this $1500 is transferred to the new insurance company and reduces the cost accordingly, so those who buy their own insurance aren\u2019t paying twice.<\/li>\n
  5. Other provisions, such as the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, flexibility for health savings accounts, etc, would also be included.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This type of plan offers many benefits, including:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. It addresses the trauma of catastrophic healthcare coverage and removes it from political debate.<\/li>\n
    2. It requires ALL wage earners to pay for the program, although low wage earners will pay less.<\/li>\n
    3. It makes the issue of pre-existing conditions less relevant because everyone receives catastrophic care.<\/li>\n
    4. It reduces the amount of unpaid hospital bills passed along to those who are insured because a significant portion would be covered by the catastrophic plan.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      This plan isn\u2019t ideal. For example, some will argue that a government-financed catastrophic plan can easily expand, but this expansion is already happening anyway. Some (like me) who want to eliminate payroll and income taxes altogether would argue that this plan expands the roll of the IRS. I would prefer a complete replacement of income taxes with a sales tax, in which case the catastrophic care tax could be rolled into the sales tax. Those on the left would argue that it still leaves unpaid bills for those who receive catastrophic care. This is true, but it\u2019s their responsibility to purchase their own policy or budget accordingly if they want additional coverage. They will argue that we\u2019re creating a two-tier healthcare system. I agree, but there\u2019s no alternative unless you are willing to merge both tiers in the middle. I\u2019m not.<\/p>\n

      If you still have doubts, ask yourself why such a simple, limited, and clearly defined approach like mine was rarely if ever discussed by those on the left before Obamacare came along. The answer is twofold. First, by addressing the real problem and nothing more, it removes much of the emotional appeal for national healthcare\u2014what socialists really want. Second, this plan requires that all wage earners pay for it through payroll taxes; on net, it doesn\u2019t add to wealth redistribution.<\/p>\n

      I believe we can only get rid of Obamacare if we offer a package deal that takes the catastrophic card off the table in a simple and efficient manner. This is one way to do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      There might be one last chance to get rid of Obamacare IF the right people are elected and IF legislators are willing to take a bold stance. When I state my opposition to Obamacare, I am frequently asked what I would do to \u201csolve the problem.\u201d I put a proposal on the table before the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}