10 GOP Ideas for Health Care Reform
NEWT GINGRICH, JOHN GOODMAN ANSWER OBAMA'S CHALLENGE

Quote:(NEWSER) – Newt Gingrich and economist John C. Goodman have responded to President Obama's challenge for Republicans to show him a better idea on health care reform with 10 ideas. Here's what they list in the Wall Street Journal.

• Make insurance affordable. This could be done by reforming the "arbitrary and unfair" taxation on health insurance.
• Make health insurance portable. Employers should give employees insurance that can be brought from job to job, and people should be able to buy insurance across state lines.
• Meet the needs of the chronically ill. Help them take charge of their own care with Health Savings Accounts.
• Allow doctors and patients to control costs. Doctors and patients should be liberated from government-imposed payment rates that reward physicians for treating the sick but not for keeping healthy people healthy.
• Don't cut Medicare. Medicare's on an unsustainable course, but the $500 billion in cuts the Democrats propose are not the answer.
• Protect early retirees. A bridge to Medicare can and should be built to help the millions who retire before they qualify.
  Inform consumers. Government data on cost and quality should be made public.
• Eliminate junk lawsuits. "We do not need to study or test medical malpractice any longer," Gingrich and Goodman write, pointing to Texas' liability protection efforts as a model.
• Stop health care fraud. Approaches including third-party liability verification, and electronic payment can help cut the $120 billion lost to fraud every year,
• Make medical breakthroughs accessible to patients. Red tape should be cut to get new drugs and treatments to patients faster.
  

I'm not sure how this would translate into legislation that's dramatically different that what is there now - certainly doesn't sound like universal health care is on the radar here.

I'm not sure why the "early retiree" clause is in there ... if someone retires early, isn't planning for health care really their responsibility, and wouldn't portable care cover that already?

Fully agree with your last sentence, I45. That really has me scratching my head. Don't retire if you can't afford to buy health care without help from your employer.

(02-10-2010 01:13 PM)mlb Wrote:  Fully agree with your last sentence, I45. That really has me scratching my head. Don't retire if you can't afford to buy health care without help from your employer.

So, I really am still just a slave.

(02-10-2010 01:21 PM)cb4029 Wrote:  

(02-10-2010 01:13 PM)mlb Wrote:  Fully agree with your last sentence, I45. That really has me scratching my head. Don't retire if you can't afford to buy health care without help from your employer.

So, I really am still just a slave.

It depends. Are you actually employed?

I'm too lazy to explore the link - is there back up behind these 10 items? They seem more like platitudes and philosophical positions than practical ideas for achieving health care reform. Stop health care fraud? Yeah, there's a new idea you can really sink your teeth into. Reminds me of the folks who like to shout "cut the waste" every time they're unhappy with a budget. How about some specificity?

I'm puzzled by this.

(02-10-2010 01:25 PM)Brookes Owl Wrote:  I'm too lazy to explore the link - is there back up behind these 10 items? They seem more like platitudes and philosophical positions than practical ideas for achieving health care reform. Stop health care fraud? Yeah, there's a new idea you can really sink your teeth into. Reminds me of the folks who like to shout "cut the waste" every time they're unhappy with a budget. How about some specificity?

I'm puzzled by this.

Most Politicians are full of hot air. They say alot, but nothing ever gets done. Waste...........LOL. They talk about it, then turn right around and put pork in every bill that passes their desk. SMH

(02-10-2010 01:21 PM)cb4029 Wrote:  

(02-10-2010 01:13 PM)mlb Wrote:  Fully agree with your last sentence, I45. That really has me scratching my head. Don't retire if you can't afford to buy health care without help from your employer.

So, I really am still just a slave.

You're a Dem, right?

(02-10-2010 01:13 PM)mlb Wrote:  Fully agree with your last sentence, I45. That really has me scratching my head. Don't retire if you can't afford to buy health care without help from your employer.

I think the term "retire" is used sloppily. Let's remember that not everyone who "retires" at 60 does so out of choice. The professional job market for people of that age is tough.

That being said, if we disconnect health care from our employers, then we don't have this stupid discussion about "needing help" from our employers.

Don't retire if you can't afford your own healthcare, mortgage, grocery bill, etc.. I think that is a more clean, concise concept.

And, if my health coverage is disconnected from my employment, it is a) by definition, portable, and b) I can then buy coverage that is best for ME, not best for my employer.

(02-10-2010 12:59 PM)I45owl Wrote:  I'm not sure why the "early retiree" clause is in there ... if someone retires early, isn't planning for health care really their responsibility, and wouldn't portable care cover that already?

Personal responsibility? Bah. Let my inner cynic give it a shot.

Gingrich claims that Medicare is on an unsustainable course (somehow I doubt the Republicans passing the largest Medicare expansion in history is helping) but is against making cuts. That means the two most likely options for getting it to a sustainable course would be to raise either taxes or the eligibility age. Since I doubt the GOP is going to advocate raising taxes, though I would be impressed if they did (at some point someone is going to have to be honest about the entitlement problem), that means the eligibility age is going to have to be raised.

But wait, all those nearing retirement would be outraged, and we all know that old people vote. How to pacify them? Of course, start a brand new government entitlement program to tide them over. They can still retire at the same time, earlier even. While they won't be able to enroll in Medicare, the government will still be there for them.

This way the GOP can claim to have reigned in Medicare while still successfully pandering to the silver set. Of course, it will probably result in worsening the budget problem, but hey, they'll be dead long before that bill comes due.

jh - I think you're on the right track. AARP is politically untouchable at this point for either party.

I'd like to add the ability for anyone to open a tax protected, portable HSA spending account through their company. This would also give companies the ability to incent employee good health by putting extra funds in the HSA account for no tobacco use, health club attendance, BWI targets, etc.

Maybe there are HSA accounts for people without company health insurance, but I cannot have an HSA account at my company because we have on campus doctors, nurses, dentists and other medical staff for employees.

A portable HSA account would allow me to better manage my healthcare spend.

(02-11-2010 10:44 AM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  I'd like to add the ability for anyone to open a tax protected, portable HSA spending account through their company.

Stop all of these connections w/ companies.

HSAs are already handled thru third parties. People should be allowed to pursue them independently.

The declining balance debit cards work so well, it's tough to beat them.

There should be boilerplates contracts created by the gov't, so that people who underspend (and lose some of their money) don't complain.

(02-11-2010 11:21 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  The declining balance debit cards work so well, it's tough to beat them.

Did you get access to my checking account statement, or did I completely miss your point?

Strange. I thought there were only 3. Tort reform, allowing companies to sell over state lines(doesn't matter if they still have anti-trust protection allowing them to continue to collude with each other about who get what shere of the market) and privatizing medicare.

(02-11-2010 12:55 PM)RobertN Wrote:  Strange. I thought there were only 3. Tort reform, allowing companies to sell over state lines(doesn't matter if they still have anti-trust protection allowing them to continue to collude with each other about who get what shere of the market) and privatizing medicare.

I think you're pretty close. 10 is a magic number, though. WRT the last one of those, when head meets desk too many times, that would get removed from any platform.