Keep Medical Welfare Local

Posted by Donald R May in Health Care, Medicaid on Sep 3rd, 2009 | no responses

Medical welfare programs, like all welfare programs, are best handled at the local and State levels. Local people are best able to assess and provide for the needs of their neighbors. Local people are best able to help their neighbors who are able to free themselves from public assistance and to move on to productive lives for them and their descendants.

Foundational to the current health care discussions are three solutions:

1. We must block any additional incursion of our Federal government into the control and funding of our health care.
2. We must return health care decisions to the people and their physicians.
3. Tort reform is needed, as greedy trial lawyers greatly increase health care costs.

House Bill 3200 effectively bans solutions 1 and 2 from ever happening.

President Obama has said he will keep solution 3 from happening. Presumably this is payback for the extensive support Obama receives from the trial lawyers.

Once health care is rescued from the clutches of the Federal government, States and communities can better make decisions for both the prosperous and the poor.

1. I think each person should be required to carry catastrophic health care insurance. Policies with larger deductibles would be inexpensive. Such coverage would be mandatory just like automobile liability coverage.

2. Any mandates, such as catastrophic health care insurance, must be very limited and carefully constructed, as they would have the potential to grow and return us to the present mess. People should be free to make their own health care decisions and spend their money on health care, as they think is best.

3. Local and State welfare management should be provided for the needs of the truly poor and disabled. Local management and control of welfare health care spending can also best prevent wastage by such patients, e.g., 2 AM ambulance trips to an Emergency Room for a non-emergent problem.

I remain of the opinion that health care savings accounts for each person are currently the best way to control health care spending decisions. Each person, including those on Medicaid, would have a set amount of money to spend. This would be tax-free money and fully moveable to the next health care economic year. Health care for serious medical and surgical problems would be covered by catastrophic health care insurance.

The problems before us are great and challenging. The solutions are quite simple. We must get the Federal government and greedy trial lawyers out of the way of health care decisions. Each has little vested interest in the patient and cares little to nothing for the future comfort and happiness of the patient, the integrity of family structures, or even our national security. Each simply has the goals of acquiring as much money and power as possible.