Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature currently requires accessing the site using the built-in Safari browser.
Newt offers thirteen points on his website (I wouldn't call it a plan since there's no detail but I'll take it as philosophical points about what he'd like any plan to include).
1. Tax credits for buying insurance in the individual market and price competition in the health insurance industry. This is already happening. See ACA §1201, §1311, §1333, § 1401, §10104.
2. Give seniors the choice of private insurance plans. This has been law for over a decade. Contrary to Newt's suggestion, however, this hasn't lowered costs. The price of the privatized portion of Medicare has soared as the insurance lobby succeeded in getting the benchmarks used to calculate the government contribution pushed higher and higher. These have now been brought back down to a reasonable level, saving a boatload of money (see HCERA § 1102).
3. Block grant Medicaid. Unlikely to happen and it's unclear how this jibes with #6 and #7 on his list.
4. Cover the uninsured using high risk pools in every state. This is being done right now (see ACA § 1101). It's had some successes but clearly isn't a long-term solution to the problem of the uninsured.
5. Outlaw rescissions. This is already law (see ACA § 1001).
6. Promote HSAs. This one is a little tricky. Newt says everyone--on Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance--should have access to an HSA (which presumably still has to be coupled with a high-deductible health plan). But he also suggests ceding control over Medicaid to the states, so it's not clear how he would require this in Medicaid. Anyway, states can already use existing avenues in Medicaid to offer HSAs to Medicaid-eligibles; Indiana was recently circulating the draft waiver renewal application that will allow it to continue its existing Medicaid HSA experiment. Regardless, as far as private coverage goes (both in the exchanges and in the group market) HDHP-HSAs are likely to become more and more common in the future. See ACA § 90011401 and § 9001.
7. Reform Medicare and Medicaid to pay for quality. This is now law and is in the process of being implemented. See ACA § 2702-27006, § 3001-3008, § 3013-3015, § 3022, and § 3025.
8. Health and wellness incentives. Also now on the books. See ACA § 1001, § 1201, § 4002, § 4103, § 4108, § 4204, § 4206, § 4303, § 10408,
9. Move from a paper-based system to an electronic one; use that to fight fraud. Again, the nation is already transitioning away from a paper based system under the HITECH Act of 2009. Also see ACA § 10330 for modernization of the technology CMS is using. And note that the feds started using predictive modeling technology to go after fraudsters last summer.
10. Malpractice reform. Support for state-centered malpractice reforms is law. See ACA § 10607
11. Accelerate parts of the FDA approval process. That process has begun for certain biological products. See ACA § 7001-7002.
12. Price and quality transparency. Greater price and quality transparency of providers (hospitals and physicians), as well as insurance, is now law. See ACA § 1311, § 10101, § 10331.
13. Investments in health research. Can't argue with this one. More money for research! And if we want to compare the effectiveness of medical treatments, we now have a mechanism for doing that (see ACA § 6301).
All-in-all, not generally bad (with an exception or two) but nothing particularly new. It might've been pretty innovative back in 2008, though, before this stuff was passed.
However, it's good to see Newt's opposition to "Obamacare" is largely rhetorical, as most of his health agenda is now law because of it.
