By Sally C. Pipes
Under the Affordable Care Act, state health insurance exchanges open for business October 1 (although the executive director of Cover Oregon has admitted Oregon’s exchange will experience some delays). While ObamaCare remains a controversial―as well as logistically catastrophic―law, President Obama took a shot at its opponents recently, saying, “There’s not even a pretense now that they’re going to replace it with something better.”
Au contraire. Ideas for “something better” abound—but the president hasn’t shown interest in them. He has instead remained devoted to his eponymous law, which promises higher costs and worse care. At this point, ObamaCare’s critics have to play the long game―and press for delays in the law’s implementation, whether by rolling back certain parts of the law or defunding it through a continuing resolution, until the White House has a new occupant.
Here are seven provisions that should be part of a replacement agenda that would ensure that all Americans have affordable, accessible, quality health care.
First, change the federal tax code so that individuals can purchase insurance with pre-tax dollars, just like businesses can. Most Americans don’t realize the full cost of their health care because they get employer-subsidized insurance. Consequently, they over-consume health care. That drives up costs. To offset the cost of insurance for those who don’t get coverage through work, Congress could institute a refundable tax credit.
Second, it’s long past time to expand the availability of health savings accounts, where patients can save pretax dollars for health services. And, HSAs must be combined with catastrophic coverage. Doing so would encourage Americans to shop smartly for their care, as they’d be spending their own money.
Third, Congress should allow the purchase of insurance across state lines. Insurance policies issued in Rhode Island cost 2.5 times what they do in Alabama. People should be able to purchase a plan that suits their needs. Such a move would increase competition and lower costs.
Fourth, policymakers need to increase funding for high-risk pools. Such pools were functioning well in many states before ObamaCare―providing affordable coverage to those with pre-existing conditions without raising premiums for everyone else.
Fifth, federal electronic health records (EHR) mandates have to go. The average initial cost of an EHR system is $44,000 per physician, with ongoing maintenance estimated at $8,500 annually. Those costs are passed on to patients. Instead, let providers implement EHR systems when it makes financial sense for them to do so on their own.
Sixth, Congress should scrap the essential health benefits mandates that require all policies to cover a battery of health services. Such mandates can raise the cost of insurance anywhere from 10 to 50 percent.
And seventh, state-level medical malpractice reform is long overdue. Each year, more than $100 billion in health care expenditures are driven by doctors’ and hospitals’ worries about medical liability. Common sense tort reform that immunizes providers from frivolous lawsuits would usher in lower costs for patients.
Of course, all these reforms are contingent on repealing ObamaCare. The House of Representatives has certainly tried to move that effort forward, voting 40 times to do so.
Death by a thousand cuts may be more realistic, at least in the short term. In June, the House voted to repeal ObamaCare’s medical device tax, with 37 Democrats joining Republicans to pass the bill.
And in the past three months, 22 House Democrats have signed onto legislation repealing the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB)―ObamaCare’s doomed plan to have 15 unelected bureaucrats dictate Medicare spending with no real congressional oversight or control.
Public opinion and legislative momentum favor ObamaCare’s delay, if not its outright repeal. And contrary to the president’s assertion, there is a plan to replace ObamaCare with something better. Once the president is no longer standing in the way, Congress should implement that plan―and fix American health care for real.
But if lawmakers allow ObamaCare to stand, the next stop will be a single-payer system, where government controls the health care system entirely. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has admitted as much. When asked in August if he felt the United States should abandon insurance as a means of accessing the health care system, Reid replied, “Yes, yes. Absolutely yes.” This will put America on the road to serfdom, and there will be no off-ramp.
Sally C. Pipes is President, CEO, and Taube Fellow in Health Care Studies at the Pacific Research Institute in San Francisco. She is a guest contributor for Cascade Policy Institute. A version of this article was originally published by The Washington Examiner.
