Consumer Directed Healthcare

Our next President will undoubtedly have their hands full.  There are several issues already on the agenda and our next President will have to hit the ground running.  That being said…  What realistic changes can the American people hope to see from the next President elect with regards to the following topics?  What issue do you feel is the most important?   
  

National Security  

Health Care

War in Iraq

Tax issues

Federal Budget

Education

 By: Jack McHugh

What follows is my personal view only, and is very much a “minority position” in the free market movement community. This plan is not my idea. It was proposed by author Charles Murray in his 2006 book, “In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State” (AEI Press):

For countless excellent reasons free-market defenders will bitterly oppose socializing the health care delivery system, but perhaps they should not resist socializing the cost of health care. An analogy may be seen in this nation’s system of public education.

Starting around 150 years ago, this nation made a decision that we would not allow the ability of parents to pay to determine whether or not an individual acquires an education. I believe that today we are at a similar point with health care.

We made a tragic mistake in public education back then, which was to give the government control of the delivery system in addition to giving it control of the finances. Imagine how different things would have turned out had a decision been made at the start to implement a school voucher system — the government would pay to educate every child, but the education itself would be provided by a school of a parent’s choosing. Such a system could also make sense for health care, given several prerequisites and considerations.

If:

• The “Scope of Practice/Licensure Raj” were repealed.

• Negotiable waivers of liability were made enforceable.

• Decisions were forced early in life about extraordinary end of life procedures, by requiring individuals to begin paying for this option with (expensive) insurance riders.

• Every person age 21 and older bought health insurance, spreading the cost across the entire population (given the next two components this would be neither an unenforceable imposition nor an infringement of individual freedom).

Then health care costs could be reduced and spread widely enough to allow the following:

• The cost of a health care insurance policy with a $2,500 deductible would be just $4,000 or less, with universal community rating (everyone would pay $4,000, regardless of age or prior health condition).
• This is low enough that giving a universal insurance voucher to every adult for such a policy would cost no more (or even less) than the current health care system.
• This system would be compatible with tax-advantaged HSAs. If they chose, individuals could buy additional coverage beyond the basic policy provided by the voucher, for things like extraordinary end of life care, or lower deductibles. It’s likely that the rational choice would be to stick with the basic policy, and accumulate the savings in an HSA

***Jack McHugh is senior legislative analyst for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a research and educational institute headquartered in Midland, Mich.

With the future of U.S. healthcare on unsteady ground, both the insured and uninsured are looking for creative ways to lower their medical expenses. This list has ideas to help you hack frustrating insurance policies, stay healthy so that you can lessen the amount of times you visit the doctor each year, and even explore alternatives like free clinics and international medicine.

 http://www.rncentral.com/nursing-library/careplans/50-easy-tips-to-lower-healthcare-expenses