Everyone is talking about “healthcare reform”
these days—President Obama in Washington, the
Connecticut General Assembly with a new plan called
“SustiNet”. Each of these plans calls for
a “public option” in which a new government-run
healthcare plan will cover the uninsured. However, all
these plans make an error that can be fatal in medicine.
They focus on the symptom, not the root cause of what
ails healthcare in America today. The fundamental problem
with healthcare is out-of-control costs, yet these proposed
plans focus on covering the uninsured by taxing the
already insured.
Healthcare premiums for the middle class have risen
at five times the rate of inflation for the last ten
years. America spends 16.5% of every dollar on healthcare
right now, and it is the best in the world. However,
it is an unsustainable path for healthcare costs with
two dire consequences. First, the middle class continues
to get squeezed through higher premiums and co-pays.
Second, over 6% of people in Connecticut go without
healthcare insurance because it is so expensive. But
the root cause of both of these problems is the fact
that healthcare costs skyrocket faster than we can afford
them.
The current “reform” efforts simply try
to cover more of the uninsured, without addressing the
problem of escalating costs. Both the Obama and Connecticut
“SustiNet” plans would cover the 6% of uninsured
in Connecticut by taxing the other 94% of us with health
insurance. Harming most of us to help some of us is
not an ideal answer. A better reform plan would be one
that actually reduces healthcare costs for the middle
class and makes basic plans more affordable for those
without healthcare.
I have proposed a series of reforms in Connecticut
to reduce healthcare costs. Five key areas will reduce
healthcare costs dramatically: preventative medicine,
mandate reform, medical malpractice reform, healthcare
IT, and expanded low-cost plans.
To increase disease prevention, I have proposed a “healthy
living tax credit” that would allow any family
that obtains all physicals and age/gender appropriate
preventative care to deduct all their medical out-of-pocket
expenses from the state income tax. If we could incent
more people to get proper screening for cancer and heart
disease, we would not only save billions in treatment
costs but save lives as well.
Connecticut mandates over seventy coverages for everyone
in Connecticut—adding about $20 per month to your
insurance costs whether you need it or not. Single women
are covered for prostate cancer. Seniors are covered
for fertility treatment. All of us are paying for coverage
we do not need because it is mandated. My proposal would
allow an “a la carte” system where insurance
companies would be required to offer you these coverages—but
you could choose to have them or not.
Medical malpractice also drives up prices. When doctors
are sued and pay out multi-million dollar settlements,
that cost just gets passed along to us. While there
should be no limits for medical or economic awards when
someone gets a malpractice settlement, we need to limit
the multi-million dollar “mental anguish”
payments that are driving up healthcare costs for the
rest of us.
Better electronic medical records and IT improvements
will also enhance care and reduce costs. President Obama
has this aspect of health reform 100% right. If your
medical records can be accessed by any doctor or specialist,
it will cut down on transfer costs and reduce medical
error.
Finally, as we lower the cost of healthcare we need
to create more low-cost, private-sector run plans. Governor
Rell’s Charter Oak Plan is an example of a no-frills
health plan that costs families less than $100 per month.
Expansion of programs like these will ensure less people
go without healthcare—because we make it affordable
for them.
Together, these five reforms could reduce the cost
of healthcare dramatically in Connecticut—while
saving more lives through more prevention and better
care. Rather than just taxing the insured to pay for
the uninsured, we need a more intelligent and creative
approach to reforming healthcare. Hopefully Democrats
and Republicans in Washington and in Hartford can come
together for a bipartisan solution that helps both the
middle class and those without healthcare through reducing
out-of-control costs.
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