Thursday, October 12, 2017

A Huge Healthcare Victory For Rand Paul



Pretty much singlehandedly Senator Rand Paul stopped the horrific Cassidy-Graham bill and earlier bills, and moved healthcare more in the direction of free markets.

Rand writes today:
 President Trump will today legalize and allow individuals to form Health Associations and purchase insurance across state lines. This is what real free market replacement looks like. Millions of Americans will be eligible to band together to demand less-expensive insurance. The 28 million individuals left behind by Obamacare will now be eligible for inexpensive insurance.
The cost to the taxpayer? ZERO! As opposed to
the trillion-dollar, “fake” replacements we voted on, this replacement simply legalizes choice.

I’ve been working with President Trump and his Cabinet for months to get this done.

How will it work? Well, nationwide associations like the National Restaurant Association will be allowed to form groups across state lines and, with the leverage of size, demand Big Insurance bring down their outrageous premiums.

Many of the 28 million people left behind by Obamacare who still don’t have insurance work low-wage jobs in our fast food restaurants. The President’s decision today will allow workers from two million restaurants to come together to form a buying group and through sheer size get cheaper and better insurance...Most of the “fake” replacements offered don’t fix the individual market; they simply keep in place Obamacare’s subsidies for the individual market. My hope is that cross-state Health Associations will allow so many people to flee the individual market that subsidies will no longer be necessary.

It will take 6 months to a year to begin seeing the benefits of Health Associations.  I want to thank President Trump for taking this bold step forward.... 
So what does that mean for you, the healthcare consumer?  Well, first of all, it means millions of people who now go it alone or in very small groups will join together and make the CONSUMER THE KING, with increased bargaining power and better prices.

You will be able to choose among better and cheaper insurance that works for you — something Obamacare made illegal. You will be able to buy across state lines, opening up competition for the best plans. Many Obamacare regulations will be waived for those in these groups, including costly mandates on what the plans must cover.

Best of all, this isn’t a government mandate. It isn’t a subsidy. It isn’t a tax. Rather, it is the removal of government regulation and barriers to the best possible health care for millions of people.
To be sure, this is not free market healthcare but it is the strongest move, in the current environment, in the direction of free markets that was likely possible. And this all pretty much comes about because Rand stuck to principle in voting against the socialist-leaning healthcare bills that were put before the Senate and then guided the President toward a plan that moves in the direction of more healthcare freedom.

This is really a quite remarkable feat for an individual senator and should go down in the history books as such.

  -RW

UPDATE

Also, see: When Trump Enters the Room Watch Him Acknowledge Rand Paul, Twice

8 comments:

  1. I agree that this is a good thing. The only question I have is how long before statists beg for a federal agency to"protect" consumers who are participating in interstate insurance transactions?

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  2. Now repeal occupational licensing and drug regulation.

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  3. This is spectacular. This could lead to a major breakthrough in making insurance closer to what it should be - insurance rather than a pre-payment redistribution scheme. Full credit should go to Rand Paul!

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  4. I think this is more important than even you are giving this credit for. This sets Rand Paul up as possibly THE leader on the healthcare issue. Legislators, like most groups, are filled with sheep who don't understand most of the world around them and tend to follow the person they perceive as a knowledgeable leader. This will be especially true if people see their insurance rates drop in a few months.

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  5. A step towards free markets but I wouldn't agree it is what a free market replacement looks like.

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  6. Rand has been much better since the election and is actually having a positive effect. Trump did campaign on eliminating State lines for providers, but Rand blocking the replacement health care acts was huge.

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  7. A word of caution. The insurer regulations were relaxed for a while during the Reagan years. Employers were sold on small "associations" for insurance. My ex worked for one and discovered they were actually CROOKS. I mean REAL CROOKS. They never paid a claim. She ratted them out and quit.
    So, seanot makes a good point. There should be standards, but they should be just enough to keep everybody honest.
    Sounds like an opportunity for someone to set up a watchdog web site to guide consumers.

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  8. Libertarians for Trump - just sayin'

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