St. Cloud Times: Bipartisan health care reforms exist
St. Cloud, MN,
Aug 30 -
Health care reform is on everybody’s mind. And with good reason.
We have the highest quality health care in the world. Look no further than Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic, which is a world-class destination for care. But high costs put health care out of reach for millions of Americans, especially middle-class families that make too much for government subsidies but struggle to pay the bills. Similarly, small-business owners struggle because they cannot use big business’ economies of scale to get affordable coverage.
We must do something to contain costs and make the high-quality care we have more accessible to everyone.
While the government-run approach, also known as the public option or co-op, is getting the most notice, there are actually a number of less dramatic alternatives that can really make a big difference. Moreover, while some in Washington are talking about what’s being called the “nuclear option,” or a Democratic Congress and White House joining together to pass their reform proposals with no Republican input, many of these lesser-known alternatives individually have broad bipartisan support.
We shouldn’t get lost in the glamour of big overhauls and look past meaningful reforms, like association health plans that let small businesses bond together to reduce coverage costs or health savings accounts that let you save for care tax-free. Bigger is not necessarily better.
Changes to the tax code, for instance, would make care and coverage more affordable while preserving consumer choices.
I’ve introduced the bipartisan Health Care Freedom of Choice Act to put patients in charge of their health decisions by tweaking the tax code. Under current law, businesses are allowed to deduct the cost of employee health care from their taxes, while individuals and families cannot. This bias in favor of employer-provided coverage leads to higher costs overall and reduces accessibility to care.
My legislation would erase this bias and extend the same tax incentives to businesses and individuals alike. From co-pays and premiums to long-term care, vision and dental, your high out-of-pocket costs would no longer be a barrier to care.
I’ve also cosponsored the Empowering Patients First Act, which puts the focus of health care decisions back on the patient, where it belongs. This legislation includes a sliding scale refundable tax credit for lower income Americans. It also covers pre-existing conditions and protects employer-sponsored insurance.
The bill would increase consumer choice by allowing individuals to shop for their health insurance across state lines, similar to how we purchase auto insurance, creating competition and giving Americans the greatest value for the coverage that best fits their needs.
Allowing consumers to cross state lines to purchase insurance would apply positive pressure to end the burgeoning number of health insurance mandates. If you don’t want to pay for hair prostheses in your coverage, you shouldn’t have to, but one in five states mandates that you do.
According to a study by the Council for Affordable Health Insurance, each mandate typically increases the cost of health insurance coverage by up to 3 percent. And, they identified 1,961 mandates in 2008.
Another provision in this legislation would rein in the money wasted on frivolous lawsuits.
Malpractice awards alone drive up the annual cost of U.S. health care by $20 billion to $40 billion a year. But even worse is the cost of defensive medicine, or responses a doctor utilizes primarily to avoid liability.
One study by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons puts the cost of defensive medicine at as much as $178 billion per year. We must have tort reform so that doctors can be doctors without fear of frivolous, career-ending lawsuits.
And we must have tort reform so that doctors don’t abandon difficult specialties because their medical malpractice insurance makes it cost prohibitive. Increasing numbers of obstetrician-gynecologists, for instance, won’t deliver babies any more; it’s just too costly. Patients — particularly in underserved areas — are the ones who lose when doctors are forced to drop these important specialties.
These are just a few of the health care proposals we can enact that won’t break the bank and can pass quickly and with broad bipartisan support.
Our nation’s deficit and debt are at all-time highs. Medicare and Medicaid are broke. Social Security is broke.
Can we really afford to trust Washington when it asks you to entrust them with your health care saying it will not only reduce costs, but increase both accessibility and efficiency for all Americans?
This is the opinion of U.S. 6th District Rep. U.S. Michele Bachmann, a Republican from Stillwater.
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