Posted on 03/03/2016 7:01:49 AM PST by Sean_Anthony
A lot more than just getting rid of the lines
I mentioned on Facebook yesterday that I am not that big a fan of election years, and here’s a case in point. At this moment, #NeverTrump is all the rage among conservatives, and there’s a tremendous push to get Republican primary voters united against one remaining Trump rival to take the nomination away from him.
My job is to write what I think about whatever happens on a given day. It’s not to only write what I think will result in a certain outcome. So when I tell you that Donald Trump’s new seven-point health care reform plan is excellent, some of you are going to say: Don’t say that now! It’ll help Trump! #NeverTrump!!!
But my job is not to care one way or the other about who it will help or hurt. It’s to say what I honestly think. And what I honestly think is that the plan Trump released yesterday is as good as I’ve heard from anyone in the race - if not necessarily better - for how to replace ObamaCare. I’m going to excerpt the seven points entirely from Trump’s web site:
At the head of the list should be that Congress is not exempt and has to use the same health care system.
The best part is that he actually has the skills to make this happen.
Well, the big research $$$ started leaving/have left the US for Asia, when 0’care came. You don’t get outstanding care AND research at the same time.
As to 1. Which one did he put in writing?
As for 2. Don’t you believe that competition in the market place, Spurs innovation?
Because it sure as hell has in the tech industry. And don’t tell me that they don’t pour billions into R&D either. Because you know they do.
Can you point to the enumerated power of Congress that allows them to force my local provider to follow such a federal mandate as price transparency.
I promise you that my next colonoscopy is only interstate commerce if you’re stretching things not meant to be thusly stretched more than my doc.
It’s all well and good until you look at the authority by which the federal government has the power to enforce mandates. And that is what price transparency is, a mandate on providers. Looked at another way, conservatives are supposed to be champions of reducing regulations on how a business operates because doing so makes doing business easier. This wouldn’t be a small regulation. It would be a huge regulation, on a group of providers already regulated to the breaking point.
Now the questions. If he's serious about repealing Obamacare in its entirety, that means repealing community rating and guaranteed issue. I hope he is serious about that. It's an issue not all Republicans are willing to tackle, so if Donald is strong on this, I will give him a plus.
The plan is silent on the importance of shifting from third party payment, including employer sponsored plans, to individual ownership. The emphasis on HSA's and equalizing tax treatment for individually purchased plans might well imply support for this, but clarity is desirable. Individual ownership is critically important because that is the primary way to address the problem of pre-existing conditions. If you own your own plan, and it is portable and guaranteed renewable, most people would establish their insurability when they are young invincibles. They would not be threatend with loss of insurability when changing jobs 20 years later, having to qualify for a new plan, and finding themselves with a middle aged issue.
The outline is also weak on dealing with the problem of those needing assistance. Block granting medicaid to the states is fine. But pledging to work with the states to make sure no one falls through the cracks is a punt. This issue is at the core of the problem. I know kids with juvenile diabetes, and one young fellow diagnosed with Fanconi's Anemia at age 10. You can expand this with your own examples. These are people who are effectively uninsurable from the get-go, have extremely costly conditions (not of their own making) to manage, and who will need support in any system. There will always be a welfare component in health care, and not just for the low-income folks. A Republican reform plan needs to deal with this up front.
This is a decent start for Trump. I have visited the issues page on his website from time to time, and it's terribly thin. He needs a lot more of this sort of thing.
“As with EVERYTHING else Trump says, it’s negotiable.”
“Quickety quack, quack”, said the quick-to-second guess duck.
I’m hardly a Trump fan, but those points seem pretty good.
Excellent summation!
I ask which one did he propose without forethought. It seems to me that his natural inclination is to propose government solutions to problems, rather than individual freedoms.
"Don’t you believe that competition in the market place, Spurs innovation?"
Certainly. I also believe that patents should protect competitive products until their development costs are recovered. Trump's plan will eliminate that recovery. Tech companies are not required to spend billions IN ADDITION TO THEIR DEVELOPMENT COSTS before the US government allows their products to be sold in the US.
Huh??
It's the research that PRODUCES the outstanding care.
My W-2 shows that my payroll-deducted contribution to my health insurance premiums is not counted toward my taxable wages. It's been this way for years.
Ping.
This is an excellent plan. I would add tort reform so that malpractice insurance for doctors comes down.
I went to TedCruz.org and was surprised to discover that Cruz does not have a healthcare plan at all.
It doesn’t mention one in the Issues section.
Do you know where Cruz’s healthcare plan is spelled out?
WOW - that is a great plan
Yes...but the dollars for care take from research dollars directly.
Had I any children in medical research, I’d tell them to go overseas now. Sad, but true.
Same with mine. Maybe he’s talking about people who buy on the market and not those with employer sponsored plans.
My family is suffering because of how much my costs have gone up in the last two years while the welfare queens - AND ILLEGALS - get it for free. (There, fixed it!)
Good list.
There’s some overlap between #3 and #4, which seems to make #4 irrelevant, but that’s fine.
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