A Proposal for REAL Health Care Reform That Attacks Skewed Incentives
When politicians propose health care reforms, they tend to either pander to strong interest groups or they push some blatant political agenda, such as moving to government-financed universal care. But in his latest post consultant Bob Laszewski proposes a reform that could drive a stake right into the heart of the health care beast — that money-sucking monster that’s projected to consume 17% of GDP this year, and 22% by 2018.
Laszewski is the author of the Health Care Police and Marketplace Review blog and President of Health Policy and Strategy Associates. His formula for reform rests on one radical proposal: “Any network of insurers and providers who did not collaborate toward making the system affordable would lose their tax qualification—their plans would no longer be tax deductible for employers and consumer.”
It’s a novel and eye-catching approach. True, regulations often only lead to regulation evasion, but I think Laszewski has the right idea: Focus first on fixing the incentives. Only when the system rewards for quality and appropriate care will we be in a position to really work towards making health care anything close to universal.
I would love to see what would happen in Washington if Laszewski’s proposal made any headway. Right now, Congress is still under the illusion that changing the health care system is optional, and that they can fix things without annoying some of their favorite lobbies, such as the medical societies and the insurance companies.
Just look at the unemployment statistics, and watch as health care costs keep rising, and huge numbers of people are priced completely out of the market. Either Congress hears what President Obama is saying, and acts to make radical and meaningful change in this out-of-control system, or we will all end up paying, literally. After all, as we’ve been told time and time again, it’s those with insurance who pay for the health care of those who can’t. As the number of unemployed rises, fewer of us will be able to afford health insurance, whether Congress mandates that we buy it or not. It’s a vicious cycle and it’s stupid to let it spiral out of control at a time of such economic uncertainty for so many.
When I hear conservatives go on about letting the market work in health care or liberals start carping about the joys of a single-payer system, they seem tragically out-of-touch with the times. There is an economic crisis of massive proportions going on. Health care costs are still rising. Either something substantial is done to make health care better, less wasteful, and more affordable, or private health care will become a luxury item that only a privileged few can afford. This is not a matter of of politics or philosophy, it’s about efficiency and standards. If we keep “the present arrangement, as George Newman suggests in his recent Wall Street Journal editorial, millions more people will be forced onto Medicaid, and millions of others will be struggling to pay high fees for health insurance policies that don’t even cover much of the care they need.
It’s a potential disaster for the country and demands the type of courageous “out-of-the-box” thinking that Laszewski, at least, is doing.
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