Absolutely no one has asked me the question, “If you were
President Chuck, what would you propose we do to make health care more
affordable in America?”
So I will ask it for me. And here is my answer.
Glad you asked that question, Chuck. I am not surprised you
asked, considering you have seen me continually look deep into the bowels of
the beleaguered American who is trying to keep up with their health care costs.
Let me enumerate:
- I would institute “Tort Reform”. “But Chuck, I’ve heard that phrase for decades. What does it mean?” In legalese, a tort is considered a civil wrong. In other words, someone is suing someone else for causing them bodily or monetary or mental harm. In the case of healthcare, it usually means a person who is suing a doctor or a hospital for malpractice. The problem is, the awards by insane courts and jury’s have gotten so large that it has drastically raised the healthcare provider’s cost of doing business. This single item is putting such a strain on the economics of healthcare that, if it were controlled, insurance premiums would drop like a rock.
- I would encourage states to allow outside insurance companies to sell in their state. Why? Because state governments, at the behest of lobbyists, enact insurance mandates requiring all plans in a state to cover, say, acupuncture or fertility treatments. Insurance mandates can raise the cost of premiums by 30-50 percent. If you could buy insurance from another state, where regulations are less onerous, you might not be forced to buy a policy with coverage you don’t need or want. Forced competition is never a bad thing. Again, a significant drop in health insurance costs would be the result.
- I would institute a “Pool” for uninsured people who have a serious preexisting condition. Not all preexisting conditions would be covered. Why? Because we are trying to make health insurance affordable for everyone. If a person can simply wait until they get sick and then buy insurance, the insurance companies would fail under the financial weight.
- I would revamp the FDA. Their problems? Too slow to allow drugs to come to market and too fast to slap more restrictions and regulations on drugs, hospitals and doctors. The result? High drug prices. Of course we need to make certain new drugs are safe, but there is a huge, burdensome overreach caused by political maneuvers with drug companies. The American consumer ultimately pays for the game-playing.
That’s it Chuck. “That’s it?”
“Will those things really make that much of a difference?” With absolutely no research or data to back
me up, I would say that addressing those four items intelligently and
implementing them sanely, would easily cut insurance premiums in half.
And now . . .as your President, I’m going to hop on Marine One and head out to Pebble Beach for a quick round.
God Bless America.
