When your insurance company notifies you at the end of October that your premiums are going up dramatically, remember that your elected Representative and my opponent this November, Democrat Ed Perlmutter, voted for it.
Your family is paying significantly more for healthcare because of Ed Perlmutter.
He supports, and has supported dozens of times with his vote, this healthcare system that is costing you and your family so dearly. He supports our current healthcare system even though all of the things he told you turned out to be lies. Your family can't keep your doctor. Costs have gone up, not down. Choices have decreased, not increased.
He'll brag about the increased number of families who have coverage for the first time but he's attempting to mislead you. After all, what good is insurance if you can't afford the deductible and your insurance plan doesn't cover your medical needs?
There's a reason that Epi-Pens now cost $600 and the number of insurance plans available to consumers is dramatically decreasing.
The truth is that the American healthcare system is rife with corruption, collusion, and cronyism. Obamacare has only forced more people into an already broken system and made everything worse.
FACT – The American healthcare industry accounts for nearly 19% of the entire American economy.
FACT – The United States spends more on healthcare, per capita, than any other country in the world. Approximately $10,000, per person, per year.
According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), "Higher health sector prices explain much of the difference between the U.S. and other high-spending countries."
What that means is that our healthcare economy is rigged. Yes, we lead the world in innovation but ask yourself, when was the last time you received a medical bill you could clearly understand?
We must repeal Obamacare. But, that alone will not fix the American healthcare industry.
The American people must demand that free-market competition and individual empowerment form the basis of any healthcare reform. To that end, I propose the following:
1. We must legally separate health care providers from insurance companies. No more collusion in what services a patient may receive, from whom, and under what conditions.
2. Healthcare providers must tell the consumer, in plain terms, how much their healthcare will cost. The list of how much each product and service costs is called a medical chargemaster. These chargemasters must be published, making them available to every consumer.
3. Insurance companies must state what they will pay for each line of the medical chargemaster.
4. The government’s role is simply to enforce transparency and prevent collusion within the healthcare industry.
Bringing transparency to the healthcare market so that consumers understand what choices they have, and what costs are associated with their choices, is imperative.
From there, we must move to eliminate the unnecessary drivers of healthcare cost inflation.
5. Regulatory reform of the industry to eliminate burdensome, redundant, and unnecessary regulations that are driving up costs and encourage rent-seeking. These regulations are also discouraging innovation, slowing deliverables to patients, and putting the most vulnerable consumers at risk.
6. Comprehensive tort reform is necessary to slow cost inflation associated with frivolous litigation. I propose establishing a specialized court similar in structure to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and subordinate only to the Appellate Courts to hear medical claims.
These steps are necessary and will provide the foundation for a 21st century healthcare industry.
As Dr. Ben Carson noted, “the best health care decisions are made between patient and doctor.”
This makes sense. Our goal should be to empower every individual with control of their own healthcare. How do we do that? Easy.
7. Establish Health Empowerment Accounts for every American.
This comes down to a single question: who do you trust to look after your own best interests, you or the government?
Lifeline – ask yourself how much money the government has deposited into your “Social Security Lockbox?” The answer is none. And you’d be naive to trust them with your healthcare.
The benefits of the Health Empowerment Accounts that Dr. Carson proposed are numerous:
a) First-dollar coverage for out-of-pocket expenses and premiums to buy the insurance of your choice.
b) It’s your money. Your Account belongs to you--even if you change jobs or move across state lines.
c) The money in your HEA is transferable between family members because each of us has different medical needs.
d) Money contributed into HEAs will be pre-tax dollars, incentivizing individuals to contribute while achieving taxation parity with employer-provided contributions.
e) Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries will receive a fixed contribution directly into their HEAs, allowing them to purchase the insurance of their choice and enjoy first dollar coverage for expenses and premiums.
Finally, we must ensure the long-term viability of Medicare. When Medicare was established in 1965, the average life expectancy for men was 66.8 years for men and 73.7 years for women. By 2011, the average life expectancy for men was 76 years and 81 years for women. On average, the life expectancy for every American has been extended by nine years
Medicare has no funding mechanism to account for those nine extra years. If we don’t act to correct this time bomb within Medicare, the system is going to break. Therefore, the final step is:
8. Save Medicare by gradually increasing the enrollment age, by two months each year, until it reaches age seventy.
There it is, an 8-step plan to fix healthcare in the United States.