Friday's Wall Street Journal posted an article by John Shadegg and Pete Hoekstra suggesting ways to fix our healthcare problems without a government takeover of the entire healthcare system.
Some of their suggestions were:
Patient choice--the government so closely regulates the healthcare industry (and the tax code rewards the status quo which puts healthcare under employers). People should have the right to decide independently what healthcare they want.
Allowing people to purchase their own healthcare with untaxed dollars, providing cheaper insurance for individuals who turn down their employer-funded plans.
State-based risk pools to allow people with pre-existing conditions to be insured.
Using healthcare vouchers to allow low income people to purchase health insurance, but keeping the government out of the healthcare business.
The basic idea of the plan suggested is to make it easier for Americans to buy health insurance and to make Americans responsible for their own healthcare. I think that's a much better idea than a government takeover of the healthcare industry.
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