How's This for a Health Care Bill?

Today, I received an email from Michael Steele. (Yes, I'm on his e-mail list too.) It has "the Republican Health Care Plan" with about 5 very vague suggestions. I won't bore you with it. Much better to me is a memo drafted by my friend and former colleague, Larry Lyons of Denver, Colorado, which he prepared for a town hall meeting with his Democratic representative. Larry's grasp of the issue is obviously much more detailed than mine, and I don't have the expertise to evaluate each and every point. I suggested to him that he put three points in his question to the Representative:

Tort reform
Allowing insurance cxompanies to sell across state lines for greater choice and competition
Pointing out that as a retired government employee, he knows first-hand just how inefficient governemnt really is by its very nature.

At any rate, I am posting Larry's paper and would invite any comments.
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"I support the REFORM of Health Care. I DO NOT support a government run or managed option under any name.

Suggestions and Comments

1. Break down the State barriers to insurance and allow BUYERS to seek PROVIDERS from any state.
a. This will enable Health Insurance to be portable if someone changes jobs and moves to a different state.
b. Larger pools of people will translate into lower premium costs and increase competition which always lowers costs.
c. The issue of preexisting conditions being covered doesn’t come into play as it is the same insurance coverage made portable by changing the law.
d. Once you have Insurance Companies providing coverage in all 50 States or even regionally, require them to provide minimum coverage to the uninsured LEGALLY here in the US by a lottery system. Every time an uninsured person comes into an Emergency room for treatment. All companies in that region rotate and take the next person. Soon there will be no new enrollees.

2. America has the best health care in the world, and most Americans know it! Why is the debate about changing the best to a Government run system? Fix the current system to allow for coverage of those without necessary health care.
a. Use vouchers
b. Tax credits for individuals and business
c. Use Tax Credits for Insurance Companies to enable them to cover those with preexisting conditions and uninsured assigned to them (1c above).
d. Businesses – small & large can decide with the employee if they want the “company” health plan or receive the same amount of money paid into their individual HSA, so they can pay for the insurance they choose. They may want additional coverage.
e. Have an “Open Season” where anyone without health insurance can apply and get coverage, including those with preexisting conditions and those where present coverage excludes preexisting conditions.
f. Make “company” health plans convertible to private plans on a national scale.
g. Federal Grants to States to cover that which Medicaid & Medicare do not cover:
i. Homeless
ii. Jobless
iii. Battered women & children
h. Provide Tax, Home Buying incentives and Tuition as appropriate for Nurses, Doctors, and technicians etc to include those teaching in these fields. Specifically for new hires but also for retention purposes. Establish high need areas etc to qualify if necessary.

3. Poor Life Style choices contribute to many of the increasing costs of Health Care. These range from obesity, smoking, drug/alcohol addiction, failure to exercise regularly, failure to take screening tests for early detection etc. Provide incentives to the insured to lower premiums through lifestyle changes. Lifestyle changes can easily be documented through results.

4. Pull back and reassign TARP funds not presently spent to cover any costs associated with #2 above.

5. There are too many special interests that thrive on Government programs to put Health Care subject to these mercenaries. What impact and influence would Unions and other Special Interests Groups have on a Government run & managed program. What have Special Interests done to improve Education? They block vouchers and fought against Charter Schools.

6. Every time there is a change in administration (4 & 8 yrs) EVERY Government program, Agency and Department change direction and emphasis. A Government run Health Care System will be no different.

7. Money drives Government operations – the lack of it drives the decisions to cut programs in all Federal Agencies. Health Care will be no different.

8. If Congress passes a Heath Care Bill with a Government Option, it doesn’t matter what it says “today”. Congress will continue to change the law in small increments to their liking. They can stick any amendment they want on almost any bill to change some aspect of the law if it is passed. We will NEVER be safe from a single payer system if a Government Option is part of Health Care Reform.

9. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security all have fraud associated with them – in the billions of dollars. Why have you (Congress) not fixed this first, to demonstrate your ability to run an efficient Government operation?

10. All three are due to run out of money in the near future. Why have you (Congress) not fixed that before taking on another monstrous Government program – Health Care?

11. All three had cost projections WELL below actual costs once they were up and running for a few years. Now they are Billions & Billions over original projections. Why should we trust your budget projections with such a track record?

12. How many miscalculations do we need to know we can’t trust the Government estimates? Cash 4 Clunkers – ran out of money in a week or so when it was estimated to run for months. Unemployment was estimated wrong – according to VP Biden – now at 9.5% not the 8-8.5% preached by the President.

13. The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775 - you have had 234 years to get it right; it is almost broke.

14. Social Security was established in 1935 (as a temporary program) - you have had 74 years to get it right; it is almost broke.

15. Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - you have had 71 years to get it right; it is almost broke.

16. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - you have had 39 years to get it right; it is almost broke.

17. The "War on Poverty" started in 1964 - you have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked and our entire country is almost broke.

18. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - you've had 44 years to get it right; they are almost broke.

19. So with these Government backed and run programs and a record that documents the "services" the Government is providing to be failing faster and faster, you want Americans to believe you can be trusted with a government-run health care system,
16 to 20% of our entire economy?

With all due respect,

Are you crazy?

20. Why will you not take on the issue of Tort Reform? Costs for Doctors, clinics and hospitals would go down with good reform. Legitimate claims should be the reason for a law suit, frivolous or false claims should not. Looser should pay the legal costs of the other. Many institutions and insurers find it cheaper to settle a claim and pass the costs on to the rest of us than fight these frivolous suits. The plaintiff and legal team take on the responsibility to pay legal costs if they lose the case.

21. You (House Democrats) say there are 47 million not covered by health insurance, However, of that number 20 million can afford it but don’t buy it (according to a study by former CBO Director June O'Neill). Most of the other 27 million are single and under 35 (a very healthy sector of the population), with as many as a third (8-12million) being illegal aliens. (Investor’s Business Daily)

22. In countries with nationalized care, medical outcomes are often catastrophically worse. Take breast cancer. According to the Heritage Foundation, breast cancer mortality in Germany is 52% higher than in the U.S.; the U.K.'s rate is 88% higher. For prostate cancer, mortality is 604% higher in the U.K. and 457% higher in Norway. Colorectal cancer? Forty percent higher in the U.K. (Investor’s Business Daily)

23. But what about the health care paradise to our north? Americans have almost uniformly better outcomes and lower mortality rates than Canada, where breast cancer mortality is 9% higher, prostate cancer 184% higher and colon cancer 10% higher. (Investor’s Business Daily)

24. Then there are the waiting lists. With a population just under that of California, 830,000 Canadians are waiting to be admitted to a hospital or to get treatment. In England, the list is 1.8 million deep. (Investor’s Business Daily)

25. “There are more than four times as many Magnetic Resonance Imaging units (MRIs) per capita in the United States as in Britain or Canada, where there are government-run medical systems. There are more than twice as many CT scanners per capita in the United States as in Canada and more than four times as many per capita as in Britain.” … “Surgery may well cost less in countries with government-run medical systems — if you count only the money cost, and not the time the patients have to endure the ailments that require surgery, or the fact that some conditions become worse, or even fatal, while waiting.” (Thomas Sowell)

26. “The confusion of "health care" with medical care is the crucial confusion. Years ago, a study showed that Mormons live a decade longer than other Americans. Are doctors who treat Mormons so much better than the doctors who treat the rest of us? Or do Mormons avoid doing a lot of things that shorten people's lives?
The point is that health care is largely in your hands. Medical care is in the hands of doctors. Things that depend on what doctors do — cancer survival rates, for example — are already better here than in countries with government-run medical systems.” (Thomas Sowell)

27. “Insurance companies are another distraction and a scapegoat because they do not insure "pre-existing conditions." Stop and think about it: If you could wait until you got sick to take out health insurance, why would you buy that insurance while you are well? You could avoid paying all those premiums and then — after you got sick — take out health insurance and let the premiums paid by other people pay for your medical treatment. That is not "bringing down the cost of health care." It is sticking somebody else with paying those costs. So is taxing "the rich." So is passing on those costs to your children and grandchildren through government deficit spending.” (Thomas Sowell)

28. If I can keep my doctor, but my doctor is not allowed to order certain tests or medicines to keep me alive or even detect treatable medical problems, then what good is keeping my own doctor? What doctor is going to want to practice medicine when some government panel make the decision on what can or cannot be paid for by insurance companies?

29. We live and function very well under a Capitalist system. That means the insurance companies, doctors and hospitals are all in business to make money. I want the doctors to make good money, as well as the hospitals and yes, even the insurance companies, many of which are part of 401K and retirement funds all across this country. I do not believe the Government can function in a profit making mode. As long as the Government does not have to make money – the playing field will never be level. They will be able to run competition out of business. Not necessarily today but over time, insurance companies will fall always, and the only one left will be the Government option. We need to strengthen the free market insurance industry not destroy it."

Larry Lyons