Monday, January 16, 2017

Replace Obamacare with What?

So what does the Trump administration do to replace Obamacare?  Remember that the country was doing just fine up until Obamacare was rammed down our throats.  Most Americans get health insurance thru their employer.  That's a strong incentive to get a job, which is not a bad thing.  I , and my family, enjoyed company health insurance for nearly 50 years.  It's decent healthcare and the government ought to encourage it any way they can.  And when you turn 65, you are eligible for Medicare which is also pretty decent.
   So the Obamacare thing was only of interest to the self employed, the unemployed, and such.  I don't understand Obamacare, I doubt that anyone does truly.  I think Obamacare offered to pay part of private health insurance premiums for low income people.  And for various reasons the premiums have skyrocketed and the deductibles are so high that the insurance is mostly worthless unless you are hospitalized. 
   So what to replace Obamacare with?  I can think of the following possibilities.
1.  Uncle takes care of everything, like Medicaid or Medicare.  Doctors and hospitals just send all the bills to Uncle Sam.  Tempting but VERY expensive. 
2.   Uncle subsidizes low income people to purchase private health insurance.  Subsidies might range from just making health insurance premiums deductible on income tax, up to  cash payments from the US treasury to either the insurance company or the patient.
3.  We pass a law requiring health insurance companies to sell the same insurance they offer to large corporation employess to the general public, at the same price charged to corporations.
4.  We make a real effort to bring down medical costs, which are outrageous.  Allow duty free import of medicines from any reasonable first world country (Canada, Germany, Japan, and company).  Clamp down on malpractice suits.  If we cut medical costs in HALF, our medical costs would be the same as every other country in the world.  America spends twice as much on medical care as any other first world country.  And our citizens health is no better than other countries.
5.  Something else?

The Republicans need to put their heads together and decide which of these options they will take.  Right now, I think every Republican has his own ideas and none of them agree on much. 

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