If at first you don't repeal Obamacare, try doing it the right way

TrumpRyanRinoCare was doomed from the get-go.

We didn't elect these clowns so they could enact Obamacare Lite.

And we surely didn't expect "repeal" would turn out to be "keep all the bad stuff."

So as you all know by now, Paul Ryan pulled his American Health Care Act before it could go down in flames in the House.

The Democrats, and their media allies, would have you believe this was a defeat for "repeal" and a victory for Obamacare.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The House Freedom Caucus torpedoed the bill, and I assure you, they are no fans of Obamacare.

They killed it because it did not do the one thing we elected a GOP House, a GOP Senate, and a GOP president to do — repeal Obamacare, all of Obamacare.

They know how to do that, of course, They did it last year. The GOP House and the GOP Senate passed a clean Obamacare repeal bill, which was promptly vetoed by then-president Obama.

One has to wonder where their courage went.

Or was the clean repeal bill just for show?

Because the easiest way to fulfill Donald Trump's campaign promise is to simply pass that bill again.

In addition to repealing Obamacare the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Act of 2015 defunded the charnal houses of Planned Parenthood. That's what I call a win-win piece of legislation.

But with a Republican in the White House the House GOP got cold feet.

So they crafted a version of Obamacare Lite, less satisfying, but with the same onerous provisions.

Slacker millenials can keep their parents' insurance? Why? Don't mandate it; don't ban it either. That way mom and dad can keep little Poindexter on their insurance until he's 65 if they want, and they're willing to pay for it. But the rest of us who actually understand responsibility aren't subsidizing his social disease lab tests.

Pre-existing conditions? Listen up, that's called "pay my bills." Look, I get it, sick people don't want to go broke. But sorry if I sound harsh, that's not my problem. Sure the truly sick need a safety net, and why not model it on the national flood insurance program instead of sticking you and me with the bill?

In fact, deregulate all health insurance. Set it up on the catastrophic care model — you pay for the routine stuff and the insurance kicks in when the bills get out of hand. That's how car insurance works; the insurance company doesn't pay for your gas and oil changes. So why should your health insurance pay when your kid has a cold?

A health care system where people pay their own damned bills is a health care system that will constrain costs. Doctors and hospitals and labs that charge "too much" will go out of business. We shop around for food and phone service and clothing and entertainment, but we don't even stop to consider the cost when we visit a doctor or pick up a prescription. Why?

Since I was knee-high to a grasshopper I've heard Republican politicians tout the need for Association Health Plans and selling insurance across state lines. Then there's tort reform, so the next John Edwards can't get rich exploiting vulnerable women. Why didn't RyanCare incorporate those features?

Beats me. But my guess is his donors didn't like the sound of Freedom.

Fox News posted that Donald Trump is "open" to a new health care bill. Here's my advice.

Repeal Obamacare. All of Obamacare.

Then craft a replacement that emphasizes Freedom.

Freedom to choose our doctors.

Freedom to choose the coverages we want. No mandates.

Freedom to pay cash if we desire to forego health insurance.

Freedom to determine our own destiny.

Freedom to fail, if that's what we chose to do. Because the Constitution wasn't designed to save us from ourselves.

Remember, the Constitution guarantees the pursuit of happiness; not actual happiness. That's up to you.

And I must say, a health care system that is built upon the idea of personal responsibility is a health care system that is sustainable, affordable, and inherently fair.

Posted at 21:35 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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Repeal and Replace? Nah, the GOP plan is more like Obamacare Lite

Has anyone seen free market health care reform? I seem to recall a certain political party promising free market health care reform if Donald Trump won the presidency.

Instead they delivered Obamacare Lite.

There are plenty of posts out there summarizing the new GOP American Health Care Act, so I won't rehash them here. This one by Kemberlee Kaye is pretty good.

So let's get right into the objections.

Refundable tax credits are just subsidies by another name. Replacing one entitlement with another is not my definition of "reform."

Paul Ryan is touting his Medicaid cuts, but what he isn't telling you is that he's replacing them with a $100 Billion dollar slush fund for "high risk" state by state insurance pools. Meh. That's a lot of cash that'll be easy pickings for sticky-fingered bureaucrats. And it's not "saving" us anything.

But I could probably live with this plan if that's all it does in "repealing" Obamacare. Alas, the GOP definition of "repeal" must be different from mine, because they're retaining 3 of Obamacare's core provisions.

Lazy slackers will still get to sponge off their parents' insurance up through age 26. Sheesh, by age 26 I owned my first house and wouldn't have dreamed of saddling my parents with my bills. Why are today's twenty-somethings different?

And speaking of saddling someone else with your bills, the ridiculous pre-existing condition mandate remains in force. Look, for the 127,415th time, "insurance" for pre-existing conditions is merely a way for forcing me into paying your bills. When you have a pre-existing condition your costs are known, but Obamacare lite refuses to price your plan accordingly.

Now Paul Ryan et al do make one sop to reality here, if you have a pre-existing condition they require you to maintain continuous coverage or pay a 30% penalty. Which is good as far as it goes, but it still means you're rated as if you're not already sick when you're up for renewal. No actuary in his right mind would sign off on that.

Lastly, and most worrisome, Obamacare Lite preserves the ten minimum essential benefits mandate at the heart of Obamacare's escalating cost structure. So no, we can't choose the plan that's right for us, because every plan will still be required to cover "free" mammograms and birth control, pediatric dental (essential for a 59 year old guy like me!), and a laundry list of feel-good "preventative" services like diet counseling and anti-smoking incentives.

So much for being able to once again purchase a catastrophic care plan and self-insure for the routine stuff.

For that matter Obamacare Lite leaves out all the free-market reforms Republicans have said they wanted. Insurance still won't be sold across state lines, preserving 51 petty fiefdoms and forcing insurers to create a multitude of similar yet distinct plans. There are no association health plans either, which is yet another way for individuals to band together and reduce costs. And nowhere in this bill is any mention of tort reform.

Frankly I don't see this plan reducing my costs at all. It's essentially a full surrender to the forces of permanent liberalism.

Big Government Republicans are just as execrable as Big Government Democrats. And what we have here is a product of Big Government Republicans.

We can do better.

We must do better.

Repeal Obamacare, in its entirety.

Then, open health care to the free market. Stop treating health insurance as if it's health care. Trust people to decide what services and benefits they want to pay for. Free doctors from reams of regulations and let them practice medicine. It's easy if you try.

Posted at 10:11 by Chris Wysocki   [/obamacare]   Comments | Perm Link |
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