Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Caroline Baum on Tom Price's Healthcare Plan

I am very suspicious of the healthcare plan of the man that Donald Trump has chosen for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price.

There is just no reason for government to be centrally planning healthcare at all. And I consider it a major scam to promote the idea that government coercion is necessary to provide "charity" of any kind, including that for healthcare.

That said, Price's plan is better than Obamacare.

In 2103, Caroline Baum discussed the key features of the plan:
Republicans do have a plan, even though you may not have heard about it. Representative Tom Price, a Georgia Republican, has introduced H.R. 2300, the Empowering Patients First Act, just as he did in the 111th and 112th Congresses. Price, a physician, says the goal of his patient-centric proposal is to ensure access to health coverage for all Americans, control costs, solve the problems of portability and pre-existing conditions, and improve the health-care delivery structure. Under Price’s plan, Americans would own their coverage, taking it with them when they change jobs. It would level the playing field by offering individuals a tax deduction, in addition to a refundable tax credit, for purchasing insurance. It would save billions of dollars by addressing lawsuit abuse, freeing doctors from practicing defensive medicine. And yes, it would repeal Obamacare. 
I would take this plan over Obamacare any day, but it is far from a free market plan. There are numerous opportunities in this plan for crony deals--and the tax bill is going to be huge. In addition to the fact that central planning suffocates production, advancement and innovation.

 -RW

1 comment:

  1. I love how we live in an era where everything in politics relates to fixing the enormous problems caused by government program x, and the only solution put forward by any party is to replace it with government program y. Trump care will not be any better than Obama care which is no better than VA care. Just stop with the nonsense. Whether its bull poop dog poop or chicken poop is of little consequence.

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