Issue: Health Care
The last time I read the Constitution, nowhere did I read about the federal government providing healthcare. Nonetheless, a little thing like the Constitution can’t stop pandering politicians from meddling with the free market. The Left likes to say it’s a human right, no it’s not, it’s a service. At the very least, it should be a State endeavor if that is what the people want. That being said, government is the most responsible for the high price of health care because of mandates, lawsuits, regulation and lack of competition. This constant tinkering has health care costs so high that few can afford it on their own. In a perfect libertarian world, I would get the federal government completely out of the health care business but I realize that this thing has already been sold and Senior’s, including my mother, literally depend on it.
If we are going to have government provided healthcare. There are some simple things we can do right now in order to bring costs down. It involves the free market and makes people more invested in choosing their care. First of all, Tort reform should be on the table as well as interstate insurance portability. Furthermore, we need to be willing to think outside the box. I like the idea of health care vouchers, especially at the statewide level. A patient controlled voucher program would go a long way to help reducing costs and empowering patients. A body could be formed and could, based on average health care costs, determine baseline dollar amounts that the government will pay for, Dr visits, procedures, drugs etc and then let the patients shop around with these vouchers for the best price or quality a patient desires. The best part of this is that the patient can keep the change or even supplement it with their own money for a higher quality of care. These baseline payouts would be reviewable every 6 months or so as the prices come down (and they will come down as pharma, doctors and hospitals compete for your business).
