Ron Paul: Let’s Put Patients and Doctors Back in Control of Healthcare!

[FrankRep]

Ron Paul: Let’s Put Patients and Doctors Back in Control of Healthcare! (http://www.ronpaul.com/2010-09-26/ron-paul-lets-put-patients-and-doctors-back-in-control-of-healthcare/)


RonPaul.com (http://www.ronpaul.com/)
September 26, 2010


YouTube - Let's Put Patients and Doctors Back in Control of Healthcare! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkSGmjvRZoM)


This week marks six months since Congress passed the healthcare (http://www.ronpaul.com/on-the-issues/health-care/) reform bill in what has become all-too-typical legislative chicanery. Those in power crafted a mammoth piece of legislation and rammed it through Congress under a dire sense of emergency. Insisting on time enough to read the bill was dismissed as dangerous and crazy in a time of crisis. We were told that if we really wanted to see what was in the bill we would have to pass it first. I cannot imagine the Founding Fathers intended that Congress legislate in this manner. I would think if a member is not absolutely certain the entire legislation meets constitutional muster, the default vote should be “no” in accordance with our oath of office. But now that Congress has had six months to read the new law, there is a significant amount of buyer’s remorse on Capitol Hill.

The more constituents learn about the law, the more angry they become. 60% of Americans are now to be said in favor of repealing the entire thing. Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to repeal a law than it is to pass a bill. I wrote a while back about the egregious provision to require businesses to issue 1099s for all transactions over $600 as a way to partially pay for it. I have co-sponsored legislation to fix this issue, yet this is just the tip of the iceberg.

First of all, in spite of the administration repeating over and over that this legislation would not increase costs for Americans, they are now saying they knew all along that it would. The Congressional Budget office estimates that American families will see their premiums rise by an average of $2,100 by 2016. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the cost of compliance is forcing some insurers to increase premiums by up to 20% as soon as next year. Also, in spite of repeated claims from the administration that we could all keep our plans and doctors if we liked them, the administration’s own officials are now predicting that won’t be true for up to
117 million Americans who will lose their current plans.

Major insurers are also dropping child-only plans because of mandates and price fixing on such policies leaving parents with fewer choices for their children, not more. In addition, in spite of claiming this law would contain government costs, not increase them, administration actuaries now predict it will increase healthcare spending by over $300 billion. This additional spending comes along with doctor shortages, fewer choices and more taxes, perhaps, worst of all, increases in labor cost because of health insurance mandates are discouraging employers from hiring new workers and even triggering more layoffs.

Anyone with a basic understanding of Austrian economics could have predicted the unintended consequences of these new healthcare policies. Central planning never increases choices and quality or cuts costs as promised. Price controls and government mandates always create artificial scarcity. Healthcare is not a right or privilege. It is a product, like food or clothing. As with any good or service, the free market regulation of supply and demand provides the optimal quality to the maximum number of people.

Once we realize the problems we are trying to solve today were created by government intervention beginning in the 1960s, we can begin to put patients back in control of healthcare, rather than third party oligopolies and government bureaucrats. The sooner the better.



1. Ron Paul: We Need Free-Market Healthcare, NOT Obamacare (http://www.ronpaul.com/2010-03-22/we-need-free-market-healthcare-not-obamacare/) Healthcare Reform Passes by Ron Paul Following months of heated public debate and aggressive closed-door...

2. Healthcare Freedom or Healthcare Bureaucracy? (http://www.ronpaul.com/2009-12-01/healthcare-freedom-or-healthcare-bureaucracy/) by Ron Paul The U.S. Preventive Task Force caused quite a stir recently when they...

3. Ron Paul: End Obama’s Corporatist Healthcare Mandate! (http://www.ronpaul.com/2010-04-18/ron-paul-end-the-mandate/) Ron Paul has introduced legislation (HR 4995) to end Obama’s corporatist healthcare mandate. The mandate...



SOURCE:
http://www.ronpaul.com/2010-09-26/ron-paul-lets-put-patients-and-doctors-back-in-control-of-healthcare/

[FrankRep]

http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/stories/jbs_banners/obamacarebanner-tna.jpg (http://www.jbs.org/stopobamacare)



Congressman Ron Paul has introduced two help rectify the problems with healthcare, which he says are rooted in government policies that encourage excessive reliance on third-party payers. by Michael Tennant


Dr. Ron Paul's Cure for ObamaCare: Private Option Health Care Act, End the Mandate Act (http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/health-care/3665-dr-ronpauls-cure-for-obamacare)


Michael Tennant | The New American (http://www.thenewamerican.com/)
30 May 2010


When the U.S. financial system went into cardiac arrest in 2008, most Washington politicians raced to the nearest microphone to declare that one of the most heavily regulated sectors of the economy was suffering not from an excess of regulation and artificial stimulation but from an excess of capitalism. They proposed, and enacted, numerous additional regulations and so-called stimulus plans to rectify the situation.

Similarly, as costs in the healthcare sector continued to spiral out of control, most politicians blamed it on the allegedly greedy, heartless insurance companies rather than on the regulations, tax policies, and government programs that have led to the present situation. Their solution, once again, was to enact further regulations, including a mandate requiring individuals to purchase health insurance from the very insurance companies these same politicians had demonized.

Fortunately, there are still a few people in Washington who recognize that the problem with the healthcare sector is not too little government but too much — and that ObamaCare only exacerbates the problem. Foremost among those is Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who explained (http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=35801):



The major problems with American health care are rooted in government policies that encourage excessive reliance on third-party payers. The excessive reliance on third-party payers removes incentives for individual patients to concern themselves with health care costs. Laws and policies promoting Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) resulted from a desperate attempt to control spiraling costs. However, instead of promoting an efficient health care system, HMOs further took control over health care away from patients and physicians. Furthermore, the third-party payer system creates a two-tier health care system where people whose employers can afford to offer “Cadillac” plans have access to top quality health care, while people unable to obtain health insurance from their employers face obstacles in obtaining quality health care.


Paul has introduced two pieces of legislation to help rectify the situation. The first, the End the Mandate Act (H.R. 4995 (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-4995)), which he introduced on April 13, would repeal the individual mandate to purchase health insurance, the centerpiece of ObamaCare. Introducing the bill, Paul said (http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=34615), “Forcing every American to obtain a congressionally-approved health insurance plan is not just unconstitutional; it is a violation of the basic freedom to make our own decisions regarding how best to meet the health care needs of ourselves and our families.”

On May 27 Paul introduced his second bill to restore some freedom to the healthcare arena: the Private Option Health Care Act (H.R. 5444 (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-5444)). In his speech on the House floor introducing the bill, Paul said, “This bill places individuals back in control of health care by replacing the recently passed tax-spend-and-regulate health care law with reforms designed to restore a free market health care system.”

The bill addresses several issues in the healthcare system. First, using tax credits and deductions, it allows individuals to purchase health insurance and services without facing tax penalties. Among other things, it provides a tax credit for all healthcare expenses that is, says Paul, “fully refundable against both income and payroll taxes”; and it makes all medical expenses tax deductible. Second, it exercises “Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause to allow individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines,” according to Paul, which promotes competition among a nationwide variety of insurance providers instead of forcing people into a handful of insurance plans approved by their state governments. Third, it provides, says Paul, “a tax credit for negative outcomes insurance purchased before medical treatment,” which will expedite awards for malpractice without the time and expense of litigation, in turn, Paul hopes, “reducing the burden of costly malpractice litigation on the health care system.” Fourth, it allows individuals to import drugs that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration; the only way the FDA can deny an import request, Paul says, is if “the drug is either not approved for use in the United States or is adulterated or misbranded.”

The overall thrust of the bill, then, is to increase competition among health insurers, healthcare providers, and pharmaceutical companies since patients will be more likely to foot the bill for their own healthcare and will have more options from which to choose. Unlike the phony competition that ObamaCare allegedly introduced into the healthcare system, the competition introduced under the Private Option Health Care Act will actually improve quality and reduce costs.

Even if both bills become law, which seems unlikely at this time, the United States will still be a long way from an entirely free market in healthcare. Nevertheless, both are significant and excellent steps in the right direction. You might even say they’re just what the doctor — Dr. Paul, that is — ordered.


SOURCE:
http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/health-care/3665-dr-ronpauls-cure-for-obamacare