- Repeal Obamacare. “Our elected representatives must eliminate the individual mandate. No person should be required to buy insurance unless he or she wants to.”
OK, without a mandate, you can't address pre-existing conditions. And no one has to buy insurance, they just have to pay a tax for being a freeloader and expecting the rest of us to cover his medical bills should he get sick or in a bad accident.
- Repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act, and allow the sale of insurance across state lines. “By allowing full competition in this market, insurance costs will go down and consumer satisfaction will go up.”
First of all, no need for Federal legislation to allow this. Just have states disband their insurance regulatory agency and allow any and all comers.
Second, several states (e.g. Georgia) have opened up their markets and no one came. The problem is some company in N. Dakota wanting to sell in Georgia has to establish provider networks, which takes a lot of work, and to negotiate good rates a market presence or some other negotiating leverage, and if they want to do that work, complying with the laws in, say, Georgia isn't that hard.
- Allow tax payers to fully deduct health insurance premium payments in their tax returns, as businesses can. “Businesses are allowed to take these deductions so why wouldn’t Congress allow individuals the same exemptions?”
If it's a credit versus a deduction, OK, but otherwise it's typical of these kinds of subsidies. Person making $200k with $8,000 in premiums saves maybe $2,400 (30% marginal rate). Poor person who really NEEDS premium assistance doesn't have an income tax liability and gets a benefit of $0.00, or it's at 10% or 15% rate, so poor person saves $800-1,200. So rich gets two or three times the tax subsidy as a poor person. Stupid, subsidies (tax savings) shouldn't increase as income and wealth increase unless we want to waste a lot of money.
- Review basic options for Medicaid and work with states to ensure that those who want healthcare coverage can have it.
- Allow all individuals to use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and make those contributions tax-free and allow them to accumulate year after year. Make them part of an individual’s estate, able to be passed on to heirs without fear of any death penalty.
- Require price transparency from all healthcare providers, including clinics and hospitals.
- Block-grant Medicaid to the states. Incentivize the states to seek out and eliminate fraud, waste and abuse to preserve government resources.
- Remove barriers to entry into free markets for drug providers that offer safe, generic options. “Congress will need the courage to step away from the special interests and do what is right for America. Though the pharmaceutical industry is in the private sector, drug companies provide a public service.”
This all sounds fine but essentially it's just talking points, meaningless without a lot more specifics.
It's not that it's bad, but it's more of "Hey, we need a healthcare plan" and some consultant drew this up so Trump can say "I have a
SEVEN POINT PLAN! And here are some buzz words you'll love!! It's the greatest plan ever!" Etc. And it carefully avoids all the real issues, which is how to pay for subsidies for the poor, and (if he does eliminate the mandate) how to address pre-existing conditions.
