I would love to break up the big government mandates, but realistically don’t see it coming in my lifetime. Here’s what I suggest:
1. Eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP. If you want healthcare, you have to pay for it, or get it through your employer. No job, no healthcare. Can’t work? Sorry, you should have saved your money when you had it instead of buying that big screen TV.
2. Repeal EMTALA. If you go to an Emergency room without insurance, you either make $1000 cash down payment, or you get no treatment.
I believe both of you will change your tune about government mandates the first time your kid is bleeding profusely and is turned away from an ER.
There are government mandates, and then there are government MANDATES. A certain amount of them are needed in most cases, but then there are others that are not and which only prove to make matters worse.
As much as I hate overwhelming government intervention into what seems to be every aspect of our lives, there are times when a little bit more would make a bit of sense. Why won't the ER take money NOW? The "we'll bill you" mantra is the cause of much of the problem.
My experience has been that the hospitals themselves are worse than the government and insurance companies combined and I'm talking experience going back more than 25 years.
“I believe both of you will change your tune about government mandates the first time your kid is bleeding profusely and is turned away from an ER.”
I’ll see your government mandate to treat bleeding children and raise you a government mandate to remove all items which will cause the bleeding from your home. One will always lead to the other.
One thing that I have found is that since I have transitioned to an HSA, I am more empowered than ever with medical folks. I negotiate with my GP, my dentist, my optomitrist, etc. There isn’t a procedure that is not negotiable. In addition, I am not included in the policy options that have all of the draconian requirements.