Presidential candidate Scott Walker, Wisconsin, has introduced his alternative to Obamacare. You can read it at ScottWalker.com:
Washington’s failed approach to health care is hurting the American people. Biggovernment created a health care system built around Washington, not hardworking families.This backwards approach drove up health care costs and reduced access to medical care for far too many of our neighbors, friends, and family members.
ObamaCare made an already broken system worse. It was written by lawmakers who believe the federal government always knows best. My plan will restore the full freedom to choose your own health care to the American people. My plan will once again put patients and their families in control. …
The main points in the plan include:
1. Repeal ObamaCare in its entirety.
2. Ensure affordable and accessible health insurance for everyone.
3. Make health care more efficient, effective and accountable by empowering
the states.
4. Increase quality and choice through innovation.
5.Provide financial stability for families and taxpayers
Under #2 above the following would apply:
A. LOWER HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS
B. PROVIDE TAX CREDITS TO ANYONE WITHOUT EMPLOYER-SPONSORED HEALTH INSURANCE
C.GIVE ALL AMERICANS MORE CHOICES AND MORE ACCESS BY IMPROVING HEALTH SAVINGS
ACCOUNTS (HSA)
D. ALLOW ALL AMERICANS TO SHOP FOR INSURANCE IN ANY STATE
E. PROTECT ALL AMERICANS WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
Full details of the Walker plan begin on page eight.
One of the fun things about this hobby is that sometimes when you post an article within a few hours another article punctuates the first. This one punctuates the reasons for repealing the bad ACA law and going to plan “B.”
One of the underhanded aspects of the ACA was the plan to delay the enactment of taxes to make it appear “affordable.” Keep that in mind as you read this story. Here’s a tease:
More good news…the law also imposes the tax on health plans providing coverage for Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare which will increase the cost of Medicaid for the state, as well as Medicare for the federal government and recipients. However, the tax cannot be directly imposed on government entities. We’ll pay in higher premiums…and taxes at the state level.
Lets see, the big boys I’m aware of are Blue Shield, Blue Cross, WellPoint, Humana, United Healthcare, CIGNA, and Aetna. If your policy is with any of these you can expect an increase in premiums to pay for the tax which will increase every year through 2018. We were not told this would happen and it was never discussed by most of our representatives in Congress.
Didn’t Obama promise to have the most transparent administration ever? Didn’t he promise to post bills on the internet for six days so we could all read them before they were passed? And didn’t he also promise that if the government took control over the healthcare insurance industry our premiums would go down?
Obama has waged more wars on the American people than I care to count…it’s too depressing! This law MUST be repealed!
I like Walker’s plan a lot. Really like the new idea of forming groups allowing for a better bargaining method over an individual’s power.
It will be so nice to get rid of ObamaCare and have people get the medical care they need at an affordable price. And have the insurance companies, who helped write the ACA, forced to stop stuffing their pockets.
Good points Peggy. The good thing about being able to form groups to get a better rate is that any person/family could be a part of a group of some kind. This isn;t a new concept it’s just somewhat obscure. After several years my comp insurer realized they could give me a slightly better rate through membership in a manufacturing group. In Montana my health insurer included us for a similar reason. The idea just makes sense. Big companies have an advantage over smaller companies in that they can buy in bulk to get a better price by buying large lots. Consumers banding together to purchase health insurance are large lot purchasers. Insurance companies should benefit from the practice as well. Group insurance is more likely to be kept active.
Whether it’s Walker’s plan or some other similar plan it will be a vast improvement over the costly, disruptive, complicated, and bureaucratic ACA.
Exactly. In this case more would be better. For example the business owners in down town Chico could form a group and invite insurance companies to submit a proposal for their various plans. The business owners could get together and decide which plan/s best fits their employees needs and negotiate the price.
The college district I worked at was self-insured because we had over a thousand employees and the insurance companies were willing to insure us with a private contract.
I can see this working with so many various groups. We already have AARP doing it. How about the other end of the scale like childcare center owners and their aids? And every age group in between. Stay at home self-employed craft moms have to be in the tens of thousands.