A Review of Alternative Reform Ideas

Posted by John LaPlante in Health Care on Nov 19th, 2009 | no responses

While there have been three different bills passed by Senate committees, and two other bills passed by the House, they share a fundamental feature: Increase the role of government bureaucracies and reduce the role of the individual in health care.

How about an alternative?

For several reasons ranging from election laws to political dynamics, we’re stuck with the Democratic and Republican parties as the two teams in national politics. All that is to say that Republicans aren’t necessarily the best option, but in this case, congressional Republicans are, among the political class, the ones offering the better options.

Their ideas have not gotten a serious consideration this political season, but let’s review them before we plunge over the cliff into the land of GovernmentCare.

Peter Ferrara offers up a list of some alternative methods of health reform: expand consumer choice in insurance; tighten up rules on lawsuits that drive up medical spending; use HSAs to let people know just how much they’re spending on health care, which could bring financial and medical benefits; expand high-risk pools for people who can’t get insurance otherwise; and allow small companies to pool employees together for insurance purposes.

Ferrara omits (I read this quickly; if it’s in there, point it out) any mention of equalizing tax treatment between employer-sponsored insurance and insurance you buy on your own. That’s puzzling, since what amounts to a tax on buying your own insurance keeps people in jobs they don’t like (”I need the benefits”) and is the single biggest cause of troubles afflicting health care.

These ideas are not the Sacred Writ of alternative health care proposals, but they’re a good place to start the discussion. Unfortunately, they’ve been dismissed, and we’re being sold the lie that you’re either for reform or you’re for people dying in the streets.