Health Care
Today,
we can treat many physical problems and cure diseases that only a few years
ago were either chronic or fatal, and the list of successful treatments is
growing every day. In a field that is changing so rapidly and is so important
to each of us, it is not surprising that meeting the demand and paying for
health care is a contentious subject. Centralized state control, however, has
not helped this situation by first creating a multitude of confusing programs
and then hiding many health care costs in mandated coverage by private
insurers and in underpayments for covered treatments that transfers public
expenses to other private payers. Instead of making health care more
complicated, we should be making it more available and affordable. As a
start, the Legislature should:
- Keep decisions
about appropriate treatments in the hands of the patient and the doctor.
- Ensure that
parents can be involved in all decisions about medical treatments received by
their children.
- Improve the
availability of prescription drugs for all patients by promoting the use of
regional medical councils to identify drug treatments that should be offered
by HMOs and other insurers.
- Encourage the
use of traditional insurance to cover unexpected, large medical costs.
- Promote the
development of regional insurance purchasing plans that will allow all
workers and business owners to have access to health insurance.
- Provide simple
tax credits for both employees and employers to help pay insurance premiums.
- Permit the use
of tax deductible medical savings accounts to help individuals and families
pay for routine health care needs.
- Provide clear
reporting of direct government payments, mandated private costs, and actual
costs of medical treatments to allow a fair comparison of different methods
of paying for health care.
- Require that
direct and mandated costs be realistically disclosed in proposed legislation
to prevent cost overruns.
A
primary objective of these reforms should be to restore personal choice and
patient satisfaction to health care delivery, while maintaining the fiscal
stability and sustainability of our health care programs.
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