SeekerBlog

Dorothy and I listened to the a podcast of the Heritage symposium featuring Sen. Tom Coburn’s presentation on his health care reform bill [The Universal Health Care Choice and Access Act (S. 1019)]. I highly commend Coburn’s proposal to your review. If it were enacted I think it would bring on the much-needed revolution in American health care. This is a very carefully designed suite of measures to leverage free markets to improve both access and quality while reducing costs.

Most Americans think that health care costs too much, that too many people can’t afford insurance, and that the entire system needs to be reformed. And most Americans also don’t want government bureaucrats interfering with doctor-patient relationships, taking away their existing health coverage, invading their privacy, limiting their right to seek better care, or jacking up their taxes. Can Congress address the first set of problems without causing the second set? Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) – the Senate’s only physician – thinks the Congress can and believes he has the detailed legislative remedy.

Tom Coburn is a rare example of a politician who is largely motivated by the public interest — he is the nemesis of the pork barreling lawyers who make up most of the Congress. Here’s the conclusion of Joseph Antos’ remarks following Coburn’s presentation:

Let me finish with one last point: This proposal has too many big ideas. There was a great article in the Wall Street Journal recently that got it exactly right. Quoting Mike Franc of The Heritage Foundation: “Republicans are still too preoccupied with health care small-ball.” In other words, which procedures should be covered by Medicare, how much should generics cost–the details of running the health system as opposed to getting the broader picture. As Mike says, “This is still outside their intellectual comfort zone, and Republicans never do well in that situation. But to win this debate–the defining issue of the next 40 or 50 years–they are going to have to address it forcefully, head-on, and with every bit of their intellectual firepower.”

Senator, I think you’ve started the ball rolling.

Heritage has a very brief summary of the Coburn bill’s major provisions. Tom Coburn’s website has the full text, and a more complete summary of the bill’s provisions.

I don’t think Coburn has “too many big ideas” — the S. 1019 package is exactly what is required:

Have you ever wondered why is it that in America, patients can not choose their own doctor? Why, in the land of the free, do government bureaucrats, insurance companies and employers make your health care decisions instead of you? Why do health insurance costs increase faster than your income? Why are prescription drugs prices cheaper in every other country when the medical research is often funded with U.S tax dollars? And why does the U.S. spend over $2 trillion annually on health care, more than any other nation, and 45 million Americans do not have access to health insurance?

The answer is simple. Unlike every other aspect of American life, there is no free market in health care. Well intentioned, but shortsighted laws passed decades ago removed patients from their own health care decisions.

While you can buy the car of your choice, watch the TV show you want, and comparison shop for every other product between manufacturers and sellers, you don’t have this same option about your own health care.

If you are unhappy with your health insurance policy, what are your options? Most Americans do not select their own health plan. As a result, you can not hire or fire your insurer. You are trapped in a plan provided by your employer or the government or have no coverage at all.

A government run health care program would only compound the existing problem. Washington, D.C., bureaucrats would have the ultimate decision over every health care decision. Going to the doctor would resemble a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Shouldn’t shopping for health care, rather, resemble a visit to a department store where the customer is the priority? You are greeted with a smile, offered bargains, clerks offer assistance, you have the opportunity to compare products and prices, and if there is a long wait at check out, a new line might be opened because your business is appreciated and your time is valued. Because one store must compete with others and the products they sell compete with similar merchandise, costs remain competitive and the customer can pick the best product for the amount of money they are willing or can afford to spend. If you are dissatisfied with a product you purchased, you can return it for a full refund or exchange it for something that better meets your needs.

This is the health care system envisioned by the Universal Health Care Choice and Access Act (S. 1019). Patients have the control to make their own decisions and can select from competing health care plans and providers.

The tax breaks that corporations and employers now receive when they provide health insurance to employees will be redirected to patients for them to use to buy their own health care insurance. The control over government-run health care programs would now be entrusted to the patients covered by these programs rather than government bureaucrats. Access to universal affordable health care for all Americans would be guaranteed. Rather than patients appealing denials of care or waiting to see a health care provider, insurance companies and doctors would now compete for patients.