A Libertarian Plan for Health Care Reform

1-a)Repeal requirements as to what diseases / conditions insurance companies must cover. (a single male doesn't need prenatal coverage and one in his twenties doesn't need prostate cancer coverage) This will allow companies to tailor policies that are better suited and accurately priced for the individual. (or family)

1-b) Remove requirements to cover pre-existing conditions. Insurance is not a Rich Uncle Money Bags, it is for in case s%&t happens. Pre-existing conditions are known in advance by definition and thus not s%&t that happens later. Imagine if government required your auto insurance to cover oil changes, new tires, and routine maintenance. Do you think it might very quickly become ridiculously expensive for coverage not to mention what people have to pay that aren't covered?

2) Repeal tax incentives for business to provide health insurance. The unintended consequence of this is that people can't get insurance for a decent price outside of their employer, and lose their coverage when they change jobs. People need to buy health insurance irrespective of their workplace - just like auto or homeowners policies.

3-a) Use the Interstate Commerce Clause for what it was intended for - preventing states from erecting trade barriers between themselves thus "regulating or "keeping regular" interstate commerce. They do this by prohibiting barriers to purchasing insurance across state lines. Currently I can buy Auto insurance from a company in New Jersey if I live in Louisiana. I can't do the same with health insurance. Being able to shop around, I can buy the best policy that fits my needs without paying for stuff I don't need. Increased competition will drive down prices.

3-b) Allow drugs to be imported from other countries. Stop the protectionist nonsense that only serves to enrich big pharma. This is no longer about health, it is now about profits. That is a BIG problem. So the solution is simple: make the right decision for health. IF there is not then enough money to be made by so many companies in pharma, then some will just have to fold their doors. Too bad. We should never prop up industries or companies for which the market doesn't have a natural demand. That is unsustainable and ridiculously expensive.

4) Create medical savings accounts - allow people to defer money tax free into private savings accounts earning interest to be used for paying medical bills. No taxes at all if they are used for that purpose, and only tax the interest earned if used for another purpose. (savings is always a GOOD thing) Make sure not to restrict usage to the account holder. (the account holder can use the funds to pay for ANYONE's medical bills, their spouse, children, grandchildren, sibling, parent, friend, etc. - as long as it goes for a medical bill, who's bill it is, is not relevant)

5-a) Repeal the legislation mandating HMO's. This is where a huge part of the cost of increase care stems from. An old "government scheme" gone ary.

5-b) Repeal medicare, medicaid and the prescription drug benefit for the same reasons. Medicare started out as a "public option" and has taken over. Doctors routinely have to charge others more to cover the payments that Medicare doesn't make. Everyone should pay for their own care.

6-a) STOP confusing health "care" with health "insurance." The two are NOT one and the same. One is a service or product, the other is how it is paid for. The problem isn't the cost of how it is paid for, the problem is the cost of the original service or product. "Coverage" is irrelevant if the cost is low to begin with. I am sick and tired of hearing people bitch and whine about people who don't have insurance. WHAT ABOUT THOSE OF US THAT DON'T WANT IT????!!!!

6-b) Insurance is itself a HUGE part of the problem. If people had to pay for things out of pocket more often, they could shop around and force prices down. Leave "insurance" for catastrophic life deciding issues and conditions. Long term livable and treatable diseases should most likely not be covered, or should only be covered say for initial diagnosis and the patient shop around for the best treatment afterward.

6-c) Doctors, hospitals, clinics, etc. should be required to post and readily provide the cash price of all goods and services including all taxes and fees in an easy to understand format that allows the consumer to shop around and question what they are getting for their money. Lasik procedures are just such an example that is generally not covered by insurance and that people have to pay out of pocket. Prices have plummeted in this market, and services are competitively offered and priced.

6-d) Dept of Health and Human Services can relegate itself to a mere ratings agency and data aggregator that ranks or displays cost/efficiency/positive reviews on doctors, hospitals, and clinics. Similar to Food Safety ratings at restaurants, but more detailed and more prominently displayed and acknowledged. No need to shut low performers down, the market will take care of that swiftly.

7) TORT REFORM!! Need I say more?

*** WE MUST RESTORE THE PRICE MECHANISM

It has been interfered with by the existence of insurance and other government programs. THAT is why costs are skyrocketing. The price is not being allowed to serve its function as market regulator between supply and demand. Introducing yet another third party payer between the service and goods providers and the actual consumer will only further distort that. The law of supply and demand is as immutable as the law of gravity. And I don't see people successfully thwarting that one too often.

*** HEALTH CARE IS NOT A RIGHT.

It is a service or a product that is provided in the market by people acting in the market.

*** THERE IS NO NATIONAL "HEALTH CARE SYSTEM"

Any more than there is a national "paper clip" or "vacuum cleaner" system. Stop thinking like a socialist.

*** HEALTH CARE IS NOT A MACHINE

You can't just punch a few buttons here, twist a knob there, slide a lever like so, or flip a few switches and make everything run smooth. If you are thinking along those lines, then you are thinking like a communist. Such is the mark of CENTRAL PLANNERS. You can't "centrally plan" an economy. The "economy" is 6.5 billion people simultaneously trying to fulfill their unlimited wants, needs, and desires, with their limited resources. No one person or any group of people, no matter how smart, can "manage" that for even a small subset of 6.5 billion people. Hell, they can't even manage their own lives most likely, much less someone else's.

*** Notice, my solutions do not involve "tinkering" rather they involve efforts to "stop tinkering" and to create an environment where people are free to offer and buy medical goods and services according to their needs and resources without interference by government or any "do gooder" bureaurat. [sic]

Additionally, for the moral argument as to why government CAN NOT provide medical care or coverage see this thread:

http://www.dailypaul.com/node/105656

edit: removed unnecessary rant on trial lawyers.
edit: fixed link to moral arguments thread.