What should the Republicans do with regard to health care if they win next week? Many candidates pledged to repeal Obamacare, and that pledge should not be forgotten. Indeed, one of the first things that the GOP should do is to put forth a bill that would just repeal the whole mess so that we can start over. This attempt, however, is symbolic. President Obama will never agree to the repeal of his biggest "achievement", and the GOP will have nowhere near the number of votes it would take to override that veto. So after the symbolic effort is made, what comes next? I believe that Republicans should do four things:
1. The GOP should stop implementation of Obamacare by defunding it. the myriad of regulatory bodies that were set up by obamacare all require funds to operate and those funds have to come from congress. Republicans should refuse to fund any program that is part of the implementation of obamacare. This effort will prevent Obamacare from moving forward and will mean that the law can still be effectively repealed in obama is beaten in 2012. It will also prevent the damage that Obamacare will do to the economy from hitting with full force.
2. Republicans should take on the problem of reducing the cost of medical treatment in the USA. Probably the easiest place to start is with Tort reform. Insurance costs for malpractice coverage drive the price of medical care ever higher, and the total cost for defensive medicine is in the hundreds of billions of dollars each year. there are certain easy steps that can be taken to greatly reduce these expenditures. First, Congress can pass a federal medical arbitration law. That statute would authorize the enforcement of agreements made prior to treatment for arbitration of malpractice claims. It should also make clear that arbitrators acting under that statute would not be authorized to award punitive damages. Further, the law should cap attorneys fees in these arbitrations at 20% of any recovery; this will fully compensate attorneys for their efforts but it will take some of the excesses out of the system. The law should also provide that the losing party in medical arbitration must pay the costs of the arbitration including all of the fees of the arbitrators. Finally, the law must provide that for all claims in excess of $100,000 there are to be three arbitrators including one doctor and one attorney among the three.
The net effect of this law should be to reduce both the number and cost of malpractice suits as well as the elimination of some of the more bizarre results in those actions. No longer would a doctor have to fear the wrath of a jury that does not understand the standard of care that is expected from a doctor and who only cares that there is a patient who is injured after receiving care.
3. Republicans should also take on the issue of pre-existing conditions. This can be done by requiring all insurance companies to offer policies that will cover those with pre-existing conditions. These policies will cost more than the regular ones, but there would be eoverage available for those who are already ill. These policies should still have the exception for pre-existing conditions, however, that applies for the first three months of coverage. It is inherently unfair to allow people to decide not to buy coverage until they get sick and let others pay premiums to keep the health system going. Those who want to be protected should have to make the choice for coverage and join the system before their illness manifests itself.
If there are those who cannot afford these new policies, there can be government assistance to help them pay the premiums.
4. Republicans should take on the waste and fraud in the Medicare system. We heard from Onbama and the Obamacrats that there is about half a trillion dollars of waste in that system that can be removed over the next decade. Of course, the Democrats did nothing to get rid of the waste and fraud. Republicans should go down that road in a big way. Imagine the benefit of having undercover agents who visit suspected Medicare mills and get the goods on practices that engage in wholesale fraud.
There are a large number of other actions that the GOP could take, but if it hits these four points, it will have gone a long way towards helping the country deal with the health care problems.
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