Saving money on healthcare

America spends 19% of GNP on healthcare.  That is twice as much as any other country in the world.  After spending this ridiculous amount of money, our health, as measured by infant mortality and life expectancy, is no better than other first world countries.  That also means that American products are 19% more expensive than they might be, just to pay the workers health care.   Here is my list of things we ought to do about the health care cost crisis.
1.  Allow duty free import of drugs from any reasonable first world country, like Canada, the EU, and Japan.  Many US rip off priced drugs can be bought overseas for half their US prices. 

2.  Allow competition in the health insurance business.  NH could pass a law saying that any American health insurance company, licensed in any state of the union, can sell health insurance in New Hampshire, no more paper work required. 

3.  Clamp down on the malpractice racket.   We could pass a law stating that prescription, manufacture, and administration of any FDA approved drug or device is never malpractice, even if the FDA later withdraws their approval. 

4.  Stop prescribing so many opioids.  The Wall St Journal says that 80% of Medicaid patients in West Virginia and Kentucky are getting prescriptions for pricey opioids.  Which gets the patients hooked on heroin when the opioid prescription runs out. This is a mixed issue, part federal, part state, part medical profession.

5. Bring back “hospitalization only” policies.  Back before Obamacare forbade them, you could buy a regular, covers everything family plan for $12,000 a year.  Or you could buy a $3000 a year hospitalization only policy that only covered things bad enough and expensive enough to put you in the hospital.   With the $9000 a year saving, you can pay for a lot of yearly physicals and childhood earaches.  For ordinary people, with a little money in the checking account, hospitalization only is a good deal.