How To Fix Health Care Without Killing the Patient
The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday heard what most are calling the most important piece of the President’s health care plan, the individual mandate that citizens must purchase insurance or pay a penalty. The logic being that if everyone has insurance health care costs prices will drop because no one will be running to the emergency room for treatment. The Court heard arguments whether the government can use its power under the Commerce Clause to compel someone to participate in commerce by purchasing insurance.
It’s one thing to regulate how someone consumes a product once they make a choice to participate in an activity. It is another thing completely to force someone to engage in an activity. Proponents of the President’s plan will say that since everyone will consume health care at some point in time, they should be forced to have insurance. The problem with that is that for the first time the government is forcing you do something, and not calling it “tax”.
Yes, you are being forced to pay for roads, the military, and every other federal program when you pay taxes, however there was no way Congress was going to raise taxes to pay for the President’s plan. And by choosing not to levy a tax, which would have been perfectly constitutional, the Democrats chose not to and therefore here we are.
There is actually a very easy way to bring down health care costs without forcing individuals to engage in an activity, end employer-provided health care coverage by eliminating the tax deduction for it. Most of us get coverage through our jobs and if you have no job, odds are you don’t have insurance. And health care costs eat up a significant portion of a business’ budget. If you eliminate the break, there really isn’t a reason for an employer to provide insurance and they will start dropping employees like a rock.
Will this lead to fewer insured? Not really, that free market is an odd thing. You will be amazed at how many companies will pop up providing insurance. And since businesses no longer have the expense they can actually hire more people. As a small business owner I constantly hear stories from people who want to bring people on board full-time but can’t afford to, primarily because of health care costs. And when we are directly responsible for paying for our own health care, we tend to take better care of ourselves. By they way, you already buy your own car insurance, homeowner’s insurance and life insurance.
And for those of you wondering about those who can’t afford insurance, I don’t see any reason why states can’t adopt a moderate plan where the working poor, for a small fee, can purchase a basic, bare bones plan. And there are some other things that can be done like allow insurance to be sold across state lines, however, insurance companies would have to register in states where they sell their product and we could eliminate mandates on what health insurance providers must cover. This makes a lot more sense in the 21st Century than an individual mandate and more government regulation.
More jobs, more insured. What’s not to like? The best single-payer system is you, the individual.
