Health Care: What’s Wrong, How to Reform

 

This discussion must begin with a fundamental understanding that Health Care (HC) cannot be a “right”. Rights define and limit proper individual actions in society and serve to protect them from outside interference. They are inalienable: there cannot be conflicts of rights among individuals. Thus a right cannot impose obligations on some to satisfy the whims or needs of others. Thus no product or service can be deemed a “right” as that would require the initiation of force against some individuals and cause the inalienable principle to be violated. Therefore, ObamaCare is unconstitutional and immoral.

It behooves us to find a moral approach to reforming our HC system. We still have the best quality of HC in the world. But we are facing 2 problems: government control and cost.

We have not had a free market in HC for nearly a century; it is irrational to blame the “free market” for rising costs. Prior to government interference, virtually all Americans could afford basic health care, and those truly in need of support were able to rely on abundant private charity. Government significantly intervened with wage controls, tax incentives et al during WWII which led to employer-based health insurance. This caused reduced individual responsibility for one’s own care, higher demand for care, and loss of insurance with any change in employment status. That created the concern about pre-existing conditions that poses the greatest risk to insurance companies.

Insurance’s primary function is risk management. It is intended to cover unexpected and unpredictable risks, not the opposite nor to force the healthy to cover the costs incurred by the unhealthy. The answer to this problem is to allow the companies to initially charge higher rates for known expenses, but in an environment where individuals do not have to change policies.

In 1965, Medicare and Medicaid changed HC as an economic product for which each individual must assume responsibility to an unearned "right" and entitlement to be provided by force at taxpayers’ expense.

All such government interference has led to high costs and with the average patient being responsible for only 3% of hospital care costs and 14% of costs overall. Instead of recognizing this cause and effect, our government has enacted ObamaCare with its price/benefit controls and crushing regulations that will further damage our HC system.

It is worth noting here that ObamaCare is already beginning to unravel: the “mandate” to date has millions of exemptions via waivers (justified because requirements will cause individuals to “lose their minimum health coverage or see their premiums increase” - Pelosi); Medicare cuts are impacting seniors; doctors are refusing Medicaid and Medicare patients; and employers are about to be forced to drop HC coverage for their employees.

This trend toward greater government controls and regulations must be reversed. A free market approach must be implemented:

1. Allow insurance companies to provide policies with rate flexibility and consideration for risk;
    encourage high deductible plans that serve as true risk management and lead to more
    responsible use of HC professionals.

2. Allow for the purchase of policies across State lines for greater competition.

3. Allow tax-deductible health savings account for all.

4. Enact tort reform to stop junk lawsuits.

5. Deregulate the industry and reform the FDA to open markets for medicines and enable
    faster technological breakthroughs.

6. Incent individual responsibility and good health.

7. Reform Medicare and Medicaid for efficiency and elimination of fraud.

This will lower costs, improve quality of care and preserve doctor/patient relationships - without care rationing, long waiting lines and immoral redistribution of wealth that is the natural result of socialized medicine. Private charity and emergency care would provide for those (estimated at about 10M) who are too poor to purchase insurance but do not qualify for existing government programs.