Healthcare Reform that Actually Works

We, the American people, have a crisis on our hands.  Proponents of Obamacare assured us that the goal of the law was to obtain healthcare insurance coverage for every American.  To say that assurance was wrong would be abundantly generous.  Not only is the Obamacare website failing so miserably that almost nobody can enroll, but there are also an estimated 16 million Americans who have either already lost insurance coverage because of Obamacare, or could be about to lose it.

Sixteen million Americans who had healthcare insurance and are in danger of losing it because of Obamacare.  Sixteen million Americans who may soon be faced with the very real threat of financial ruin should a member of their family become gravely ill.  Worst of all, 16 million Americans who simply may not be able to get life-saving care should they need it.

The American people – be they Republican, Democrat, or Independent – find this scenario acceptable.  It is time to move beyond blind adherence to a political goal and focus on achieving a real solution…a real solution that not only finally puts a end to the havoc being wreaked by Obamacare, but one that also enables Americans of all walks of life to access quality healthcare.

There are many good ideas for achieving these goals, but consider the following option.

First, Congress should immediately pass, and the President should sign, a full one-year delay of Obamacare.  Even those who do not support full repeal of Obamacare must realize that failing to enact this kind of delay will literally be life-threatening to millions of Americans.  Regardless of your view on Obamacare, the law clearly isn’t ready to be implemented.  The fact that 16 million Americans are in a perilous position with regard to their healthcare insurance is clear evidence of this fact.

This delay must be more than a delay of the Individual Mandate, because it is urgently imperative to allow for a competitive insurance marketplace for the 16 million Americans who are, or soon may be, suddenly without coverage.  If the Individual Mandate is delayed while insurance companies are still mandated to comply with all the bells and whistles of Obamacare, there will be no marketplace for affordable coverage and we will still face the possibility of 16 million newly uninsured Americans.  It has to be a full scale delay.

While full scale delay will address the immediate crisis of 16 million Americans threatened with loss of coverage, the second step of this option would provide access to quality healthcare for every American, while re-establishing the critically important components of individual control and competition within the free marketplace.

Stage two of this option is most eloquently articulated by Dr. Ben Carson in an op-ed in the Washington Times.  In summary, individuals would once again take control of their healthcare through Health Savings Accounts (HSA).  These tax-free accounts would be owned and controlled by individuals.  A portion of each account could be designated for truly catastrophic care, while the remainder would be reserved for all of the regular healthcare needs of the account owner.

These accounts would never expire (even upon death), could be passed from generation to generation, and should be flexible enough to allow for charitable giving to others in critical need.

There is plenty in this broad structure for everyone in the political spectrum to like.  For example, as Dr. Carson points out, if even a portion of the initial annual cost for Obamacare would instead be used for contributions to individual HSAs (with a portion going for catastrophic care), we could achieve “universal coverage” overnight.  Also, if properly defined, every American could be financially protected from a truly catastrophic health event.  Finally, by allowing for HSA-to-HSA transfers, we would encourage the kind of compassionate generosity that has long been an American hallmark.

Maybe the most attractive aspect of this proposal is where it places control of your healthcare.

It does not give control to the federal government. 

It does not give control to insurance companies.

This proposal gives control to the person with the most at stake when it comes to your health – you.

It is time to meet this crisis head on.  It is urgent that we pass a full delay of Obamacare to prevent the possibility of another 16 million Americans going uninsured.  And then it’s time to come together across the political spectrum to return control of healthcare to the patient.