Obamacare borne out of good intentions but
not enough plans were to organize the health insurance as a universal function
under the control of the government and shift control from the insurance ‘king-kongs’
while seeking to protect the underprivileged, disadvantaged and the unemployed.
The more fortunate, including GOP members lurking to score cheap political
points have been screaming hell and fire to cancel the plan. If I may ask, replace
it with what? There are many loopholes in current system, better all sheath their
political swords, and work together, (or just pretend) and save the American people
in what appears less are having the American dream. I hope the fixers including
Obama, Jeffery Zients, and all health parastatal work past-time in avoiding a
looming and irrecoverable catastrophe yet in the health sector. If you take a closer look at it, the Obamacare,
once fully implemented, is a better health care option for United States
citizens. Below are thirty steps in solving the problem and Moving Forward as a nation
- There should be incentives for small businesses below $5million operating income and/or less than 100 full-time paid workers. The current arrangement could put a financial strain on small businesses that cannot afford to offer such coverage. An employer mandated tax of $3,000 for each employee could easily bankrupt many companies, hurting the economy even further.
- Revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren't covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program
- Rather than increase government spending and control, we need to address the root causes of poor health. This begins with the realization that every American adult is responsible for his or her own health. Unfortunately many of the health-care problems are self-inflicted: two-thirds of Americans are now overweight and one-third is obese. Most of the diseases that kills and account for about 70% of all health-care spending—heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity—are mostly preventable through proper diet, exercise, not smoking, minimal alcohol consumption and other healthy lifestyle choices. Thus increase heavy taxation on fast-foods, obesity prone products, alcohol and tobacco. Make it luxury to purchase burger….lol; I am sure people will adjust their eating habits.
- Give large tax credits to spend on health insurance to the disadvantaged and uninsured people Obama is trying to help in the first instance. There should be qualifying low income requirement to qualify for such tax credits. As your income improve over the years, so also your tax credits diminishes over the years
- Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. Allow health insurance to be purchased across state lines and portability within participating states.
- To manage the risk effectively, roll out by the geo-political zones, may be five states at a time. Fine tune performance and move straight to the next states. Or roll out by income brackets, starting from the lowest to the higher income brackets.
- Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs). Encourage health savings accounts, tax preferred
- Delay by a year the tax penalty for people who choose to go without insurance and are not covered by Medicaid or other government insurance program. Delay for a year, lengthy the sign-up period and waves penalty for defaulters in the next two years.
- Fix the website, hire Google and Microsoft together. I understand there are dozens of contractors, but why are the leading technology companies not at the helm of affairs.
- Amend requirements for compliance that favors the American people irrespective of their income bracket.
- The congress should vote for more market-driven amendment to the health act that will be less costly to taxpayers, more flexible in meeting the diverse needs of citizens, less bureaucratic, and consistent with the Constitution and our values
- In replacing Obamacare, policymakers should move lower-income people out of the limited sphere of Medicaid options and into the same private health-insurance markets in which their fellow citizens purchase coverage. This change would afford these patients greater access to doctors and specialists, and would reduce the disincentive to higher-paying work.
- The most plausible way to implement such a change would be to transform today's tax exclusion for employer-provided insurance into a standard tax credit that would extend to all Americans, regardless of employment status, which they could then use to purchase the private coverage of their choice. As to how such a consumer-controlled federal tax credit would be designed, policymakers have a variety of options from which to choose
- To respect federalism and reap its benefits, nothing in an Obamacare replacement agenda should compel state adoption, instead leaving the participation of state governments completely voluntary. Those states that do participate in any federal initiative should be given meaningful control over the most important components of regulation, especially the power to design and operate their own health-insurance markets (within minimal federal standards)
- And when states pile more people into Medicaid, it is again taxpayers — federal and state — who shoulder the cost. With this kind of subsidy structure, it is not at all surprising that cost escalation throughout the health system has been rapid. Keep cost checked
- To begin, the federal government would need to close the gaps in protection that emerge when people move from employer-sponsored plans to the individual market regulated by the states
- The first crucial component of any serious reform must be a "defined contribution" approach to the public financing of health care — the essential prerequisite for a functioning marketplace that imposes cost and quality discipline. In most sectors of our economy, the normal dynamics of supply and demand keep costs in check and reward suppliers that find innovative ways to deliver more for less.
- Both federal and state governments spend an enormous amount on health care, but government's revenue base for taxation grows along with the economy, not with health-care costs. That can be reconcile, what are those guys doing in Office of Budget…whatever
- To be credible, the replacement for Obamacare must address in a plausible way the genuine problems with our system of financing health care. Pre-eminent among these are the explosion in costs, the rising numbers of uninsured, and the challenge of covering Americans with pre-existing conditions.
- Foremost among these is the heavy reliance on employer-sponsored insurance that is not owned by workers and therefore not portable when workers move from job to job or leave the work force. We know what to do, let tweak the act for the good of American people (the American people are not aliens, they live in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, they deserve better)
- New amendments to the law must account for both the strengths and the weaknesses of the health-care system, and must solve the problems that contributed to the demand for Obamacare in the first place.
- More people have access to doctors and hospitals through improved health insurance program. The question is how those hospitals accommodate the plethora of new visits, knowing fully well the number of doctors and nurses is not likely to increase in same proportion to new qualified clients. Engage more doctors and residency students in more voluntary programs by working with various NGOs indirectly, and look for ways to incentivize medical practitioners to be engaged in such venture.
- Allow for companies and individuals options in their insurance plans to accommodate their faith beliefs as some establishments are against contraception plans and abortions.
- Health insurance is rarely portable in any real sense of the term, as workers cannot remain enrolled in the same insurance plans when they switch jobs. Make healthcare insurance portable as employees switch employers. That can be made possible if the government introduce defined contribution system in which the premiums are not tax deductible. This makes consumers become conscious, align choice of insurance package to fit their lifestyles and invariably entertain the interplay of demand and supply.
- Liberate the market’s supply side by allowing nurses, paramedics, and pharmacists to deliver care they are competent to deliver;
- Encourage Medicare and Medicaid to cover walk-in clinics at shopping malls and other unconventional care venues, paying market prices;
- Free doctors to provide lower-cost, higher-quality services in the manner described below;
- Redirect unclaimed health insurance tax credits for people who elect to remain uninsured to health care providers in the areas where these willfully uninsured live; this will provide a backup fund for uninsured patients who don’t pay their medical bills
- Congress should quickly start transforming Medicare from an open-ended entitlement program, governed by central planning and price controls, into a competitive health insurance system with premiums and subsidies directly related to income
- Obama do not make it hard for democrats in the next election. Listen to the people, communicate as often and find a means to work together with the republicans. Forget legacy, bury pride and save America. It is on your lap, don’t allow it to drown, it’s already slipping down. Stop playing good cop, bad cop
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