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Now that the legal mumbo jumbo is outta the way...

Thursday, February 25, 2010

One Page Alternative to Obamacare

HatTip: Hyscience via StopTheACLU


I still say doing anything at the Federal level is unconstitutional, leave it to the states to handle it IF the people want it, BUT more than likely SOMETHING will get shoved through, so this is better than anything else out there...

and it's only one page!


Small-Bill Proposal for Sensible Health-Care Reform

To make health insurance more accessible, affordable, and portable — without increasing government control, jeopardizing the quality of care, or breaking the bank:

1. Cut costs by preventing runaway malpractice lawsuits. Relieve doctors from having to practice costly defensive medicine, by capping noneconomic and punitive damages, while continuing to allow unlimited economic damages to compensate for financial loss. (No increase in government spending. Savings: $53 billion to the federal government, and billions in additional savings to private citizens.*)

2. Cut costs by allowing Americans to buy insurance across state lines. Allow Americans to shop for coverage from coast to coast — whether from lower-mandate states at lower prices, or from higher-mandate (additional-coverage) states at higher prices. Allow plans bought in one state to be transported to another. (No increase in government spending.*)

3. Cut costs by allowing lower premiums for healthier lifestyles. Federal regulations ban companies from offering more than a 20 percent discount to those who eat and drink in moderation, exercise, or don’t smoke. Such regulations handcuff private cost-cutting efforts and should be eliminated. (No increase in government spending.*)

4. Increase access to health insurance by ending the unfair tax on the uninsured (and self-insured), giving them a tax-break similar to that which is already available to those with employer-provided insurance. Provide refundable annual tax-credits of $2,500 per person or $5,000 per family — directly to the American people, not to insurers. Leave employer-provided insurance, its tax-exempt status, and the rest of the tax code, intact. (Increase in government spending: approximately $80 billion (for credits beyond taxes paid). Reduced revenues: approximately $120 billion (for refunds of taxes paid).*)

5. Provide further help for those who are uninsured and have expensive preexisting conditions, by increasing federal support for state-run or state-organized high-risk pools. Thirty-four states already have pools to help those who can’t get affordable coverage because of expensive preexisting conditions. We should help all 50 states to establish or organize such pools. (Increase in government spending: $100 billion.*) (See ** below.)

6. Convert some federal funds into block grants to states, and reallocate the savings resulting from reducing the number of uninsured. Disproportionate Share Hospital (or DSH ("dish")) payments reimburse hospitals for treating the uninsured in emergency rooms. With fewer uninsured, some of these funds can be allocated more efficiently, helping to fund the above proposals. Start the block grants at 75% of each state’s current federal DSH funding level, reduce them by 5 percent annually until they reach 50% in year-6, and then index them to the consumer price index minus one percentage point. (No increase in government spending. Savings: approximately $180 billion.*)

7. Implement additional reforms from the House Republican health bill. Adopt regulatory reforms in the small group and non-group markets, standards for electronic administration, an abbreviated approval pathway for follow-on biological products, and HSA reforms). (Increase in government spending: $0. Savings: $20 billion.*)

14 comments:

butt neckid said...

OOOOOOO....goose bumps.

J Cooper said...

CLEAN FUCKIN HOUSE,OMG,THSES PEOPLE HAVE NO CLUE

Hell yeah,I'm drinkin beer at 10;00 AM.Smokin pot too,I work night,so OTR said it's OK.

off the reservation said...

When I watch that crap, one thing comes to my mind -- "Recoil"

*NOTE: For those individuals that lack imagination, humor, grasp of reality or are otherwise overly sensitive to remarks, or have never been beyond the four walls of their sterile, womb-like, environment created by the artificial reality of the liberal media beamed into their heads by that 52-inch plasma screen TV bought through the benefit of government entitlement programs... THIS WAS AN EFFING JOKE (humor typical among veterans that served their country and had to go places you could never imagine).

Oh, and for Arianna Huffington: EAT ME!

Auntie Em said...

Here's my idea on this whole mess. It belongs at the state level, not federal.

Ged could tell the states that IF THEY WANT, they could submit a plan and the Fed would grant them seed money to get their plan up and going.

Period. No strings attached, no threats, no mandates.

That is the only way, any of this is constitutional (sorry bn).

butt neckid said...

deep breath.......release slowly....squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze..

that ain't a joke....

J Cooper said...

deep breath.......release slowly....squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze..

THANK YOU SIR,I'LL TAKE ANOTHER

J Cooper said...

Auntie EM ,Who is Ged??

Unknown said...

We should implement loser pays as part of lawsuit reform.

Auntie Em said...

Geez

Ged = Fed

It's cold in this office today, having tyintewopivan difsvsivamv ok?

butt I'm cured neckid said...

AUNTIE......I had that once't...5 shots od penisillyin and poof....all betta......

ya gotta watch those toilet seats.....

Anonymous said...

Lets add HSA's(with HDHP) for everyone. You must have skin in the game to moderate your expenses and motivate your usage of the services to what is proper.

Let the patient decide if he needs the cat scan when he walks into the ER because it comes out of the above mentioned. Current ER Doc's compalin about all of the services that have to be provided to CYA espcially since no one is paying for it!.

Start minumum copay for ER use. Even if only $20, thats 20 more than they get now will reduce some bypassing the system

Bob

off the reservation said...

Great point. I have been using a HDHP (High Deductible Health Plan) with a HSA (Health Savings Account) for a few years. That means I pretty much pay for everything medical until I reach a combined deductible of $5,000. After that, the plan picks that up.

The surprising thing about this is that my premiums have been very constant and low for the past five years. I have rolled over monies remaining in my HSA every year and have a nice buffer account to help with medical.

The folks that I know that are working in group plans with PPO's using low deductibles ($20 copay for office visit, $5 copay for drugs) have seen a big spike in their premiums. One group had an almost 30% spike. If the govt picks up the tab and all this stuff becomes "free" (it is not free because the rest of us are stuck with the bill) costs will go through the roof. There is no way a govt plan can save money unless there is rationing. That means people that really need it get screwed and the hypochondriacs just keep on playing the system.

I believe that the tort reform in Texas has played a major factor in keeping medical costs down.

tshirt doctor said...

like it for practicing states rights. but your tort reform will save consumers dollars is dependents on the doctor's ethics.

"It's really hard to sort out whether [doctors] are ordering tests as defensive medicine or to make money," Shapiro said. "Or there's the third possibility that they're just being doctors. In the best of all worlds, wouldn't we want our doctors to look at us and say, 'There's a 1 percent chance this is serious, but I want to rule that out'?"

Proponents Predict Billions In Savings From Reform, But Opponents Say Changes Aren't Worth It

Anonymous said...

OTR, your right about the relative steadyness of the HSA. I went from a PPO to HSA (after arguing with the wife for almost 2 years. Premiums went down from $1400(PPO) to $650 right off the get go with 2K(EA-4K fam (that was her comfort level)) plan. It went DOWN 8% wach of the next 2 years Unfortuantly its up 18% this year.

As to Malpractice. 1st thing to remember its a learned process. If you are in a state that has been tough on Dr.s Human nature being what it is you will CYA!.
And by the way the largest malpractice insurer (Medical Protective Company) was run by GE, and sold to Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway

At Christmas I had a long chat with the local ER Dr. He pointed out that as long as Patients have no real stake in the cost of services they will CONSUME as much as they can to (wait for it, lol) "Get their fare share". Coem in for a headache, been drinking
get a MRI (the insurance or ER is paying) just to rule out a tumor. If they had to pay that as part of theire deductable a differnt story because NOW IT'S MY MONEY. Funmny how that works.


Bob