Giuliani on HealthCare

Rudi announced his healthcare plan. Based on the news report I read, it's not exactly bold or innovative. His basic idea is to give everyone a tax break of up to $15K per year toward the purchase of their own insurance. It would take some of the burden off employers and, he thinks, put market pressure on the industry to bring prices down to more reasonable levels. He also supports tort reform for malpractice lawsuits.

I don't have a major issue with his plan, and have to admit it's better than the government takeover envisioned by Hillary. But I don't think it addresses the fundamental core problem.

We've already decided as a society that we won't deny healthcare to someone if they can't pay. Despite the insensitive rhetoric out there from both libs and cons suggesting that fat people and smokers don't deserve healthcare (funny how they leave out alcoholics and drug abusers), very few people would be comfortable with the idea of withholding lifesaving surgery to someone because they aren't insured.

So let's review the causes of high healthcare costs:

• Those who don't pay have their costs passed on to those who do
• Providers have to maintain large administrative staffs to manage a wide range of claims procedures unique to each insurance plan
• Providers have to take out malpractice insurance at very high premium rates to protect themselves against frivolous lawsuits, which they have to pass on to their patients
• Insuring all healthcare, including basic office visits and prescription drugs, encourages overuse of the system by patients and contributes to higher pricing (especially for prescriptions)
• Specialization in an increasingly complex medical field means patients need to see a different doctor for every condition, driving up costs
• Illegal aliens cram emergency rooms to receive all kinds of care, for which they do not pay and are not insured
• We care deeply about our elderly parents and grandparents, many of whom rack up huge bills for care during their last few months of life
  
• A plurality of the public now believes they have a fundamental right to free healthcare; thus the success of politicians pushing government control of the system
• Defensive medicine is a fact of life, with unnecessary tests routinely ordered for no other reason than protection from malpractice lawsuits
• A wealthy and powerful drug company lobby insures that no politician will pass legislation that harms their ability to continue charging inordinately high prices for patented prescription drugs

Some things I think could help solve many of those problems are

• National standardized electronic insurance claims processing
• Eliminate insurance for office visits, basic blood tests and xrays, and prescription drugs. Everyone has to pay for their routine healthcare out of their own pocket. HSA's and tax considerations can ease the burden on patients, while the market will force drug companies to ease their more outrageous pricing policies
• Affordable Major Medical coverage must be made available at an affordable price to everyone. No insurance company would be allowed to turn away higher risk patients.
  
• Eliminate preferred provider networks. HMO's would have to adapt their product to compete, probably by offering unlimited routine care for a reasonable monthly subscription rate
• Tort reform, of course. Designed to discourage frivolous suits by people hoping to win the healthcare lottery, but still is available to help purge true incompetents, charlatans, frauds and negligent providers.
  

Nobody is out there with these ideas, at least as far as I can tell. Nor will there be I suspect, because anybody making these sorts of recommendations would immediately alienate powerful interests - trial lawyers, drug companies, insurance companies, unions, and politicians, to name a few.