Can Reform Actually Make Health Care Less Costly?

A Washingotn Post column wrote: "Health-care reform that actually controls costs -- rather than just pretending to do so -- would be virtually impossible to achieve".


This thinking arises only if ObamaCare with a single-payer government run program is the end-point.
What is neglected by the liberal media is an entirely different approach that removes government barriers to lowering cost and keeps the government out of health care beyond the entrenched Medicaid and Medicare programs.
All of these measures are opposed by Obama and the Democrats because they do not increase government power and control. Here are some examples, there are more.

1.Remove the laws that prevent competition for buying insurance across state lines (e.g. equal policies in NJ and PA can cost $12,000 and $7000, respectively.
2. Change the tax law so that individuals get the same tax deduction on health insurance premiums as do corporations (remove the 7% of adjusted gross income offset against individual medical expenses).
3. Remove the restrictions on carryover of Flexible Spending accounts as an incentive for individuals to not use unspent funds by year end.
4. Remove all limitations on Health Savings Accounts to encourage lower cost private catastrophic insurance policies with individuals taking more responsibility for initial expenses in unlimited HSA contributions.
5. Institute true tort reform that limits lawyers fees and jury awards and will result in lower liability insurance for doctors and less medical testing.
6. Make the penalties much higher for insurance companies who wrongly refuse claims and index the penalties to the frequency of wrongful rejections for each company.
7. Provide income scaled government vouchers for health insurance for those caught in the gap between Medicaid eligibility and those that can afford their own insurance (perhaps at 3x poverty level).
8. Make penalties very high for insurance companies that drop an insured because of too many claims.
9. Create very-high risk pools with appropriate high premiums for those with pre-existing conditions (as is done for teenage drivers or those with DUI records).
10. Increase the investigations and increase the penalties (fines and prison-time) for Medicaid and Medicare fraud.
11. For people below a certain age (perhaps 30 to 40) abandon Medicare and create long-term health insurance investment plans along the lines of long-term-care policies. Employee and employer contributions to Medicare can be diverted to a plan by private insurance companies an perhaps guaranteed by the government as are many private pension plans.