A Republican Health Care Contract With America
by Bruce Walker (8/30/09)
Now the closest that the Left has to a Health Care Plan seems to be for Congress to pass the equivalent of the Enabling Act in Nazi Germany:
“Section 1: The President shall implement by regulation all rules, incentives, and orders necessary to create a national health care system which provides the cheapest, best, and fairness medical care to Americans.
“Section 2: This act is effective immediately”
The immense complexity of the Left’s health care “reforms,” along with the impossibility of really knowing how it would work in practice has, rightly, enraged and terrified Americans. Republicans should respond with a brief set of reforms whose impact could be easily understood by Americans and a solemn promise that these reforms will be exactly what is done, if Republicans have their way. That was the elegance of the Contract With America, which won Republicans control of Congress fifteen years ago. Republicans should convene and adopt this new Republican Health Care Contract with America, mail it out to millions, print it in magazines and newspapers, and ask voters to demand that Congress adopt the reforms. What reforms? How about these?
Make all reasonable medical expenses completely tax deductible again. Now medical expenses above a certain threshold are tax deductible, but for tens of millions of middle class Americans, medical expenses never rise to that level. This would keep choice in the hands of patients and doctors and provide immediate health to huge numbers of American households.
Require that the FDA drugs certify as safe any drug which has been used safely in other countries for four years. This would immediately provide doctors and patients in America with more safe and inexpensive drugs that have been used for years in Britain or Denmark.
Put Physical Education back in all public schools. Our kids are too chubby and too lethargic. Having students exercise an hour or so each day will improve their health. Perhaps, also, “grade” schools based upon general indicators on the physical health of the school’s students.
Allow private insurance companies to compete across state lines (as Ann Coulter has suggested) so that we vendors have a vast number of different plans we can choose, rather than a few limited to each state.
Provide low cost, high deductible catastrophic health care insurance, as Republicans have supported in the past. Hammer home with the elderly that this would end any worry about bureaucrats measuring the value of an old person’s life against health care costs.
Stimulus funds specifically cannot be used for communities to build golf courses or swimming pools. End this silly restriction. Public golf courses are great for senior citizens’ health. Swimming pools are wonderful ways for children to exercise. Why – on earth – spend stimulus funds on community organizers, but not on swimming pools, golf courses, walking paths, etc.?
Require that in medical malpractice cases no more than ten percent of the award can go to the lawyers. This would not limit awards but it would limit the incentive of greedy and dishonest trial lawyers like John Edwards from getting rich from the misery of others or the alleged harm caused by drugs or treatments.
Increase the income tax deduction for people who contribute to private, non-profit medical research and health care. Obama wants to “soak the rich” to pay for public health care. Republicans should entice the rich to be even more generous in helping private health care.
Provide that food stamp recipients who are seriously overweight must participate in certified weight reduction programs. It is one thing to make sure no American is hungry in the land of plenty. It is quite another to give free food, without conditions, to people who are killing themselves with that food.
Provide an annual medical checkup, with medically indicated tests, for every American who cannot afford it.
Republicans need to come out with a short, clear, reasonable, post card size plan right now. Make sure everyone in America knows what it is. Ask the American people to demand that Congress pass the Republican Health Care Reform and not some nebulous, mammoth, back-door-deal Chicago mafia health care plan. Democrats, now, stand for nothing popular at all. Once Republicans clearly stand for something sensible and easy to grasp, the political battlefield changes dramatically.
Bruce Walker
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