Wednesday, July 4, 2012

3 Simple Steps To Create True Reform.


It has taken the better part of a week since the United States Supreme Court ruled on the “Affordable Care Act” in order for me to gain what I believe to be the proper perspective on how American citizens should act. For those few who have read this law we know that it is not about health care what-so-ever, but instead is about eroding and eliminating individual property rights and inserting the government in the business of re-distribution of wealth as they control the economy. This is further evidence of the progressive movement toward a totalitarian state or socialism.

Conservatives and Republicans alike have fallen into the trap of arguing the issues based on what is historically correct and or Constitutional. What many fail to understand is that those who are attempting to bring about this radical change believe in neither.. Compromise can only be employed successfully when both parties share some common ground or mutual foundational belief that can be built upon. The assumption that the Constitution and rule of law was that “common ground” has been the death knell to all attempts to preserve and protect this sacred document and it's philosophy.

Whether the law is repealed or not, We The People can in fact render it useless and enact the correct measures to address the real problems in healthcare that motivated so many people to support this tragic law. There are 3 specific things necessary to create the environment for the United States to create and maintain the most technologically robust healthcare in the world. These are simple measure that we can insist our Representatives and Senators address and reform, and in so doing the quality of care will be unsurpassed. These measures will also eliminate the need for “The Affordable Care Act” to even it's most ardent supporters.

Tort Reform: The only change in the current legal system necessary to ensure that both frivolous lawsuits are reduced or eliminated, and that those legitimately wronged are indemnified of their loss is to adopt a looser pay system. When the looser of any legal action is forced to pay the legal fees and court costs of their own counsel as well as the opposing party's it gives all parties pause to consider whether or not they are pursuing a legitimate action. This also reduces the expense of malpractice insurance while at the same time reducing the work load on the local court system.
Tax Reform: The current tax code affords subsidies to Doctors, Healthcare providers and institutions, and pharmaceutical companies beyond compare. These subsidies are pad by all taxpayers, and they allow physicians to write off the difference between their stated fees and their pre-negotiated rates that they contractually agree to. Pharmaceutical companies are allowed to sell their newly developed drugs for any amount they choose for the first 3 years of a drug's approval by the FDA, but when they sell it to a different country at a lesser price they are allowed to write off the difference and be subsidized by the American tax payer for this “loss” as well. As a result of the current tax code, the American tax-payer is currently subsidizing these professional organizations as well as the foreign nations they do business with over and above the premiums paid for their own health insurance.

De-Regulate: It is as a result of Federal regulation that a person in Texas cannot purchase their insurance from a firm in Tennessee, or a California company cannot get their benefit package from a firm in South Dakota. If today's politicians are so enamored with the “commerce clause” in the Constitution, why aren't they asserting the State's rights to have contractual commerce from one State to another in matters of insurance?

Personal Responsibility: While I may want to eat steak and salmon at every meal, my budget dictates that once in a while I eat chicken, hamburger, or beans and rice; the free market sets the costs of goods for my grocery budget, and it should be allowed to operate in freely setting the market costs of health care. For generations people have avoided discussing the cost of their care with health care providers because they mistakenly thought they didn't have to pay for it, “that's what they have insurance for.” What nobody bothered to explain to these people is that is the very reason why their individual cost for insurance has risen over 6 times the rate of inflation for the past several years and it will skyrocket beyond that with the bureaucratic involvement of the Federal Government.

Unintended Consequences: The liberal media, unions, and progressive activists all cry “victory for the common man” as a result of the Supreme Courts ruling of the Affordable Care Act being Constitutional. They have spent the last 3 years saying that the poor and lower middle class should receive free health care and purported that this law would give it to them. NOT! When these people needed care prior to having any form of insurance they went to hospitals and clinics' emergency rooms and were never denied care. They didn't pay for their care, and this also drove up the costs of private health insurance. Next year all of these poor unfortunates will get a shock when they file their taxes and try to get their own government subsidies, only to find that their adjusted gross income is now subjected to an additional 2.5% tax to pay for what they used to get for free. And does the money go to the doctors and hospitals? No, that's why this law included the provision of hiring an additional 16,000 IRS agents to ensure the government receives these proceeds. So much for “free” health-care.

So instead of taking the polarizing position of arguing the merits or lack there of within the “Affordable Care Act,” we should instead push for the real reform that will bring about the necessary changes to render the law useless while at the same time creating an environment for the industry to thrive and people to get the best in care. We can no longer afford to engage our time and resources in debating with the progressives; it is time to act decisively with forethought and vision. Let's turn the tables, and lead this discourse, let them react, let them argue the merits of progressivism while we implement the rights and freedoms of a Constitutional Republic.