- Jun 6, 2007
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On Healthcare in the 2020 election cycle the Democrats are going to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory! The majority of the American people want to keep the ACA (Affordable Care Act) they just want it improved; the American people aren't buying the Republican plan of repeal and give remnants of the ACA! Foolishly the Democrats are going to ruin their success by either pursuing Medicare For All or the government option on the healthcare exchanges for the individual market. Moderate Democrats have done a good job of shining a spotlight on the fact that Medicare For All is unaffordable frankly the budget deficits it will cause will eventually cause the country an extremely severe Recession if not Depression. The government option will either eventually cause socialized medicine in America with an inferior system or a two tiered medical system in America with an inferior system for those in the government option. Everyone should agree that the only way the government option can offer a better plan to the America people from a financial standpoint is if the government dictates the amount of the fees that it pays health care providers like Medicare and if they do this they will not cover the providers expenses which means some providers will go out of business and some will offer lesser services meaning longer wait times and less quality for the American consumer. The only unknown is whether the enabling "government option" legislation forces all health care providers to join the system or doesn't, if it does then the American people will eventually have an inferior healthcare system as health care providers will go out of business and/or cut back on the quantity and quality of services. Now Democrats proponents of these options will say nonsense we are going to give these providers grants to make up the gap between their fee reimbursements and their expenses; prudent Americans should be saying this promise is a pipe dream an empty promise the grants will never reliably long-term cover these providers expenses. The other alternative is if health care providers are free not to join the government option system frankly in a free society which American is I don't believe from a rights standpoint the government should be able to force all health care providers to work for the government; in any event, for this latter scenario what the American people will see is a two tiered system one the government system with inferior health care and the regular private insurance health care system which offers good health care. This Democrat two tiered health care system will leave the American people extremely dissatisfied and railing for government change on the issue.
What the Democrats should offer is exactly what the American people want improve the system. Promise to pass a great version of the Senator Murray/Senator Alexander policy of reimbursing the insurance companies on the exchanges for the expenses of costly pre-existing conditions which will drive down insurance premiums for these American consumers. Democrats should mandate the states that have not expanded Medicaid, the twelve or so states, do so; it is fair to do so considering that for a constitutional amendment to pass and be bound on all states all states don't have to adopt it it is sufficient for like three-quarters of the states to do so for Medicaid expansion the country has seen this three quarter threshold met. Further these recalcitrant states have had ten years now to produce a plan that provides good health care for these Americans left by the road side by the states inaction on the Medicaid expansion and they have not come through time for the Federal government to come to the rescue for these citizens on this critical issue and force the expansion.
With the ACA ninety-percent of Americans are covered by health insurance, a pretty good number! But Democrats should ask themselves what don't most of these covered Americans like about their health insurance? Exactly the Deductible; because that means if they go to the doctor or hospital they are going to have to pay the entirety of the bill, until they have reached the Deductible threshold! These bills pose a great hardship on many Americans the expense unaffordable they really strain or break many American families budget. What policy can be enacted to get around the problem of deductibles but still offer some of the benefit of deductible. Well what are the benefit of the deductible: it discourages the unnecessary or over use of health care services, it incentivizes the insurance consumer to shop around for the lower cost health care provider since the consumer is footing the bill and it reduces the total cost to the insurance provider of insuring that consumer since the insurance company is not paying the bills during the deductible period which results in the insurance premiums being lower. Why doesn't the ACA create a health care insurance product that does not have a deductible but instead has a higher co-pay period say ten percent more for a co-pay period of one thousand dollars for individuals and two thousand for families. Specifically the ACA could require the insurance providers on the exchange that in addition to their normal silver plan offer a no deductible/higher copay silver plan, further the ACA should base its insurance subsidy for Americans making up to four hundred percent of the poverty level on this no deductible/higher co-pay silver plan so these low and middle income families will be able to afford such plans. Of course, this no deductible plan would have higher premiums but for these subsidized families it would have minimal negative impact because of the federal government is picking up a large portion of the price tag. The great thing about these no deductible plans is that when an enrolled American consumer gets an illness and would like to see a doctor he or she won't have deal with the deterrent of a large deductible the economic cost for getting such service will be much less!
The Democrats have great ideas with respect to pharmaceutical pricing regulation to stop Americans from having to pay higher prices than people in other developed countries throughout the world pay but their ideas on Medicare-for-All and a Government Option are terrible ideas if implemented they will ruin the great progress the Democrat party has made for American with the ACA. Worse than that though they will have opened the door for the Republican Party to implement their ideas on healthcare which involves throwing Americans with serious pre-existing conditions and low and middle income out of the boat resulting in many of them drowning!
What the Democrats should offer is exactly what the American people want improve the system. Promise to pass a great version of the Senator Murray/Senator Alexander policy of reimbursing the insurance companies on the exchanges for the expenses of costly pre-existing conditions which will drive down insurance premiums for these American consumers. Democrats should mandate the states that have not expanded Medicaid, the twelve or so states, do so; it is fair to do so considering that for a constitutional amendment to pass and be bound on all states all states don't have to adopt it it is sufficient for like three-quarters of the states to do so for Medicaid expansion the country has seen this three quarter threshold met. Further these recalcitrant states have had ten years now to produce a plan that provides good health care for these Americans left by the road side by the states inaction on the Medicaid expansion and they have not come through time for the Federal government to come to the rescue for these citizens on this critical issue and force the expansion.
With the ACA ninety-percent of Americans are covered by health insurance, a pretty good number! But Democrats should ask themselves what don't most of these covered Americans like about their health insurance? Exactly the Deductible; because that means if they go to the doctor or hospital they are going to have to pay the entirety of the bill, until they have reached the Deductible threshold! These bills pose a great hardship on many Americans the expense unaffordable they really strain or break many American families budget. What policy can be enacted to get around the problem of deductibles but still offer some of the benefit of deductible. Well what are the benefit of the deductible: it discourages the unnecessary or over use of health care services, it incentivizes the insurance consumer to shop around for the lower cost health care provider since the consumer is footing the bill and it reduces the total cost to the insurance provider of insuring that consumer since the insurance company is not paying the bills during the deductible period which results in the insurance premiums being lower. Why doesn't the ACA create a health care insurance product that does not have a deductible but instead has a higher co-pay period say ten percent more for a co-pay period of one thousand dollars for individuals and two thousand for families. Specifically the ACA could require the insurance providers on the exchange that in addition to their normal silver plan offer a no deductible/higher copay silver plan, further the ACA should base its insurance subsidy for Americans making up to four hundred percent of the poverty level on this no deductible/higher co-pay silver plan so these low and middle income families will be able to afford such plans. Of course, this no deductible plan would have higher premiums but for these subsidized families it would have minimal negative impact because of the federal government is picking up a large portion of the price tag. The great thing about these no deductible plans is that when an enrolled American consumer gets an illness and would like to see a doctor he or she won't have deal with the deterrent of a large deductible the economic cost for getting such service will be much less!
The Democrats have great ideas with respect to pharmaceutical pricing regulation to stop Americans from having to pay higher prices than people in other developed countries throughout the world pay but their ideas on Medicare-for-All and a Government Option are terrible ideas if implemented they will ruin the great progress the Democrat party has made for American with the ACA. Worse than that though they will have opened the door for the Republican Party to implement their ideas on healthcare which involves throwing Americans with serious pre-existing conditions and low and middle income out of the boat resulting in many of them drowning!
