Start Over On Health Care Reform, And Start Small

Now that Obama has lost his 60th vote in the Senate and Nancy Pelosi has admitted that she doesn’t have the votes to rubber-stamp the Senate’s bill through the House, what should they do next?

I admit they could try some shenanigans involving reconciliation, but the truth is simple: this is how the system works. If you can’t get the required number of votes to support your bill, that bill doesn’t get passed. They can’t get the votes, so they shouldn’t try to trick their way through this thing.

Here is what I would like to see them do. First and foremost, abandon the current bill. Many bills pass both Houses and then perish because the House and Senate can’t reconcile them. Let that happen here. Then start picking targeted solutions to specific problems and introduce SMALL bills to cover them. No huge monstrosities, no buried pork or sweetheart deals, simply good solutions to problems. Oh, and no major rush on ANYTHING or closed-door negotiations. Let’s do everything openly and above-board, and take the time to get it RIGHT.

Here are the bills I would like to see introduced, because I think these would work to make health insurance less expensive and more available.


Tort reform: loser pays. One of the reasons for high health care costs is the fact that people can sue doctors at the drop of a hat… many lawyers will take the case at no cost, so it’s a free ride. They don’t risk anything. If we implement a loser pays system, the person suing would have to pay the defendant’s legal fees IF the defendant prevails at trial. Simple. Now the individual suing has something to lose by filing a frivolous suit, and will hesitate to do so. Implementing a “loser pays” system will reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits against doctors.

Allow insurance across state lines. Right now, federal law prohibits a person in Alabama from buying health insurance from a company in Florida… this is at the heart of why liberals say there isn’t any real competition in the health insurance industry. Change that, and allow us to buy insurance across state lines. The added competition will drive down costs.

Make individual insurance deductible. If your company purchases health insurance for you, your premium is tax-free. If you purchase your own insurance, you have to pay income tax on that insurance premium. Change the law to allow health insurance premiums to be deductible if purchased by an individual. This removes the tax bias favoring companies providing insurance, and will help those who currently purchase their own.

Remove insurance mandates. Right now, policies sold by health insurance companies in various areas are required to provide minimal levels of coverage, some of them not so minimal. Some of them require maternity coverage for females, others require coverage of even more esoteric things… whether the purchaser wants or needs them, or not. Remove those requirements and allow insurance companies to offer lower-cost policies that exactly match the customer’s requirements.

Now, these suggestions certainly won’t fix every single problem that exists with our health care system today, but in combination, they will make health insurance less expensive and more available... and isn't that the main goal, anyway?

Let’s start there, see how those work, and determine what else is needed later.