Some Ideas for Real Health Care Reform?

This is a summary of proposed free market reforms.


                     Health Insurance USA
                            This is ³reform²
 
 Government
€ Change tax rules so that no one pays taxes on health insurance
€ Vouchers for Medicaid-eligible persons to purchase health insurance
€ Interstate sales allowed, without State-mandated coverages
€ States license insurers based on ability to pay claims
€ State civil justice reform ­ no non-economic damages
€ Repeal or downscale HIPA
 
Employers
€ Offer group plans, if desired, or pay employees to purchase individually
 
Consumers/Patients
€  Voluntary purchase of health insurance;
€ Select from a wide choice of insurers and plans ­ total choice
€ Choose providers and treatments as needed
€ Those without insurance are responsible for paying their bills
 
Insurers
€ Offer unlimited choice of deductibles, coinsurance, maximums
€ 60 day open enrollment once per year (prior didn¹ts; 2 years, etc.)
€ Insurers establish substandard risk tiers and rates
€ Non-profit uninsurable risk companies funded by insurers
€ Utilize standard claim forms
€ Offer credits for healthy habits on renewal
 
Providers
€ Publish schedules of all fees
€ Charge each patient the same fee for the same service
€ No special deals for different insurers
€ May discount for individuals
€ Utilize electronic records
 
 
            John F Brinson, Chairman
            Lehigh Valley Tax Limitation Committee

Important Health Care Lawsuit Update

Mon, Dec 6, 2010 at 11:50 AM
Rob’s latest update on the health insurance mandate lawsuit, Democrat attacks on the independence of the Attorney General’s Office.

Update from Rob McKenna from Rob McKenna on Vimeo.

Dr Stark talks with the Concerned Citizens of Clallam County on Oct 25th, 2010. Unedited talk.

Dr Roger Stark Discusses Health Care from rlselby on Vimeo.

Putting the Brakes on ObamaCare: WSJ

By GRACE-MARIE TURNER

If Republicans take control of one or both houses of
Congress this fall, many will have been elected with a promise to
"repeal and replace" ObamaCare. But what are their options, really?
There likely will be an initial showdown, but President Obama will
surely veto any challenge to the law, and it would be hard to imagine
mustering the votes to overturn it.

Senior
Editorial Writer Joseph Rago and OpinionJournal.com assistant editor
Allysia Finley analyze an election shocker in Alaska and break down the
Florida election results.

Information
is the key weapon. Republicans can use congressional hearings to
explain what ObamaCare is doing to the economy and the health sector.
Their strongest cases would be built around jobs, the cost of health
care, and the rising deficit.

If
evidence shows that looming mandates on employers are crippling
job-creation, they should be repealed. If health costs are rising, as
they inevitably will be, Congress needs to hold hearings to investigate
the causes and explain why the offending taxes and regulations must be
repealed.

View Full Image

Chad Crowe

Here are six key strategies that a Republican Congress could employ to put on the brakes:

• Defund it.
House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio has vowed to choke off
funding for implementation of the legislation, starting with parts that
are especially egregious such as the "army of new IRS agents" needed to
police compliance.

While
Republicans could target the most damaging provisions of the legislation
and tie their defunding measures to appropriations legislation that the
president wants and needs to sign, they'd better be ready for battles.
When former House Speaker Newt Gingrich lost a stand-down with President
Clinton over closing down the government in 1996, it was widely seen as
a setback for GOP efforts to scale back big government.

• Dismantle it.
To focus committee action and floor votes, Republicans can look for
provisions in the law that Democrats are on record as opposing. For
example, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D., N.D.) has
said that the new federal program to fund long-term care—the Community
Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, or CLASS Act—is "a Ponzi
scheme of the first order, the kind of thing that Bernie Madoff would
have been proud of." Mr. Conrad and five of his Democratic colleagues
sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) before the
legislation passed opposing the program and expressing "grave concerns"
about its fiscal sustainability.

Other
highly unpopular provisions include the requirement that all businesses
must file 1099 forms with the IRS to report any purchases totaling more
than $600 in a year. This is designed to raise about $17 billion over
10 years from tax cheats. Rep. Dan Lungren (R., Calif.) was the first to
introduce legislation to repeal this gigantic paperwork burden. Many
Democrats in vulnerable districts who voted for the health law are also
anxious to repeal this provision, which the National Federation of
Independent Business says will impact 40 million businesses.

• Delay it.
Republicans can also vote to postpone cuts to the popular Medicare
Advantage program, postpone mandates requiring that individuals and
businesses purchase and provide health insurance, and delay imposition
of the $500 billion in taxes required by the law. Mr. Obama wouldn't
likely sign such legislation, but the debate would shine a light on
problems that haven't received nearly enough attention.

• Disapprove regulations.
The Congressional Review Act of 1996 (CRA) gives Congress the authority
to overturn regulations issued by federal agencies if both houses
approve, with a two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential
veto. This would be difficult to pull off. But proposing a resolution of
disapproval under the CRA gives Republicans a platform to express
strong disagreement and bring attention to especially egregious rules.

The current congressional majority wants to gut the CRA,
and the House passed a bill that would eliminate the requirement that
federal agencies submit their rules to Congress before they can take
effect. The Senate has not yet acted, but this measure should be on the
Republicans' watch list for the rest of the year.

• Direct oversight and investigation. Other
aspects of ObamaCare are ripe for public hearings. For example, rules
dictating how much insurance companies must spend on direct medical
benefits are already hugely controversial—even before they have been
issued. Businesses are also aghast at the narrow openings they have to
protect their current health plans from onerous federal regulation.
Republicans could summon many witnesses to testify about the impact of
this regulatory straightjacket.

Congress
also must keep a careful eye on the evolving cost estimates and
deficits. Former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas
Holtz-Eakin estimates that the cost of the subsidies for private
insurance could rise to $1.4 trillion —triple the $450 billion assumed
by the current CBO. This is because the legislation creates strong
incentives for businesses to drop coverage and dump their employees into
federally subsidized insurance. Congress has a responsibility to
protect taxpayers from what surely will be exploding costs.

Republicans
also will want to call Donald Berwick, head of the powerful Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services, to testify before Congress and detail
his regulatory agenda for implementing the health-care law. He escaped
that duty earlier this year when the White House avoided his Senate
confirmation by giving him a controversial recess appointment.

• Delegate to the states. Congress
should encourage states to press forward with their own innovative
programs. For example, Gov. Mitch Daniels's popular and fiscally
responsible Healthy Indiana Plan expands coverage to the uninsured using
a health savings account model. And the lightly regulated Utah Health
Exchange provides a marketplace for individuals and small businesses to
purchase affordable, portable health insurance. Both are threatened by
ObamaCare. The more that states are marching forward with reform that
suits the needs and pocketbooks of their citizens, the easier it will be
for Congress to repeal ObamaCare and start over.

Americans intuitively understand that government can't
pay for huge new entitlement programs and the expansion of Medicaid with
imagined cuts to Medicare, while still improving Medicare's long-term
solvency. They also know that job creation is flat and that employers'
fear of ever-rising health benefit costs is part of the problem. They
need to hear the evidence that their fears are valid.

The
real wallop of ObamaCare will come in 2014, when most of the spending
begins and businesses and individuals are hit with intrusive and
expensive mandates. The main job of Republicans, should they capture
Congress, will be to slow down implementation of the law and explain to
the American people the damage it will do—and already is doing—to our
economy. If the White House changes hands in 2012, they can be ready to
start with a clean slate and begin a step-by-step approach to sensible
reform.

Ms. Turner is president of the Galen Institute.

Some Ideas for Real Health Care Reform?

This is a summary of proposed free market reforms.


                     Health Insurance USA
                            This is ³reform²
 
 Government
€ Change tax rules so that no one pays taxes on health insurance
€ Vouchers for Medicaid-eligible persons to purchase health insurance
€ Interstate sales allowed, without State-mandated coverages
€ States license insurers based on ability to pay claims
€ State civil justice reform ­ no non-economic damages
€ Repeal or downscale HIPA
 
Employers
€ Offer group plans, if desired, or pay employees to purchase individually
 
Consumers/Patients
€  Voluntary purchase of health insurance;
€ Select from a wide choice of insurers and plans ­ total choice
€ Choose providers and treatments as needed
€ Those without insurance are responsible for paying their bills
 
Insurers
€ Offer unlimited choice of deductibles, coinsurance, maximums
€ 60 day open enrollment once per year (prior didn¹ts; 2 years, etc.)
€ Insurers establish substandard risk tiers and rates
€ Non-profit uninsurable risk companies funded by insurers
€ Utilize standard claim forms
€ Offer credits for healthy habits on renewal
 
Providers
€ Publish schedules of all fees
€ Charge each patient the same fee for the same service
€ No special deals for different insurers
€ May discount for individuals
€ Utilize electronic records
 
 
            John F Brinson, Chairman
            Lehigh Valley Tax Limitation Committee

NCPA Consumer's guide to Health Care Reform Bill

Health Reform Costs, Benefits Explained In NCPA Consumer's Guide

The
first detailed and objective consumer's guide on the impact of the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has just been released by the
National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), titled, "What Does Health
Care Reform Mean To You? A Detailed Analysis."  

"The guide does not ignore the benefits of the Affordable Care Act,
but it also does not deny the costs," says John C. Goodman, President,
CEO and Kellye Wright Fellow of the NCPA.  "This is the first unbiased
summary of health care reform costs and benefits, and it's a unique
resource." 

"The consumer's guide answers questions about the coming changes and
costs in Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance, employer coverage and
income tax returns," says Goodman. 

The research analyzes the costs, benefits and drawbacks of health reform changes, including: 

• Health insurance requirements and fines for individuals and employers.
• Expanded health coverage for up to 34 million people.
• Projected shortages of doctors, nurses and hospitals.
• Free health plan preventative services.
• New coverage protections for patients with pre-existing conditions. 

Also: 

• Reporting family income totals to your employer.
• Benefit and spending cuts for the elderly and disabled on Medicare.
• New taxes on private health insurance, drugs, medical devices.
• Insurance subsidies and changes in coverage options. 

To educate patients, doctors and all those affected by the new health
care law, the NCPA has also produced a shorter version of the guide in a
summary pamphlet, also titled, "What Does Health Care Reform Mean To
You?"  The pamphlet is a succinct and unbiased overview of the
Affordable Care Act changes, in layman's terms, to help consumers
understand what to expect from health care reform. 

Source: Press Release, "Health Reform Costs, Benefits Explained in NCPA Consumer's Guide," PRNewswire, August 25, 2010. 

For text:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/health-reform-costs-benefits-explained-in-ncpa-consumers-guide-101487154.html  

For Consumer Guide:

http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/What-Does-Health-Reform-Mean-for-You-A-Consumers-Guide.pdf  

For Summary Pamphlet:

http://www.ncpa.org/healthreform/

For more on Health Issues:

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=16

ObamaCare Is in Big Trouble

August 7, 2010
ObamaCare Is in Big Trouble
By Deroy Murdock

ObamaCare faced voters for the first time last Tuesday and was diagnosed as seriously ill.

By a margin of 71 percent to 29 percent, Missouri voters approved a referendum to invalidate any ObamaCare mandate to purchase health insurance or any penalty for not doing so.
Proposition C reflects growing momentum to repeal ObamaCare, an increasingly unpopular federal sinkhole that the American people do not want and numerous state and federal officials are working sedulously to reverse.

ObamaCare’s latest defeat did not occur in some right-wing bastion, but in a swing state in which Barack Obama lost by just 3,903 votes to Sen. John McCain in 2008.

And on Monday, Federal Judge Henry Hudson ruled that Virginia may proceed with its lawsuit to overturn ObamaCare’s individual mandate to acquire medical coverage.

“While this case raises a host of complex constitutional issues,” Hudson wrote, “all seem to distill to the single question of whether or not Congress has the power to regulate - and tax - a citizen’s decision not to participate in interstate commerce.”

As Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli observed, “The government cannot draft an unwilling citizen into commerce just so it can regulate him under the Commerce Clause.”

ObamaCare’s mandate redefines the individual’s relationship to Washington, D.C. If it can compel Americans to buy health insurance, why can’t it force each American to join a gym or eat bran?

Twenty different state attorneys general are in court battling ObamaCare’s defining ideology, as embodied in the individual mandate.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, 170 of 178 Republicans have signed Rep. Steve King’s (R-Iowa) discharge petition to bring repeal language to the House floor.

Americans increasingly would applaud such a House vote. A July 30-31 Rasmussen survey shows that among 1,000 likely voters, 59 percent want ObamaCare overturned. Despite relentless Democratic preening over ObamaCare, pro-repeal sentiments have risen from 55 percent (42 percent opposed) on March 24, when Obama signed this bill.

The American people can kill this monster in its crib. Handing Republicans the keys to Congress on Nov. 2 could smother this $2.5 trillion extravagance in its infancy. While a GOP repeal vote surely would earn a presidential veto, a Republican Congress could defund this law’s implementation.

Instead, Republicans should administer a pro-market antidote to ObamaCare’s poison: Health-insurance vouchers, medical malpractice reform; universal, tax-free Health Savings Accounts; and individual, portable medical plans - all available across state lines.

ObamaCare’s ultimate demise likely will require a GOP chief executive to sign its death certificate. Until that joyous occasion, Americans should dream of the day when Obama returns to Chicago to break ground on his presidential library.
Deroy Murdock is a columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.

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