A Consumer-Driven Alternative

National Review's new healthcare issue is a must read. John Goodman goes through the data illustrating the failure of socialized medicine in the UK and Canada. Costs are disguised and shifted and care is worse. One key stat:

Studies show that only 5% of Americans wait more than four months for surgery, compared with 23% of Australians, 26% of New Zealanders, 27% of Canadians, and 36% of Britons.

Skulls in the waiting room. 

Michael Cannon looks at the failure of Medicare and Medicaid, which is the core of the Dem proposal, price controls which force a rationing of  healthcare---in other words, we get less for our money, we get less choice, we get less care, and they want to put us all on this system.  The effect will be a shortage of primary care providers. Despite what the Dems promise about Obamacare, you will lose your choice of doctor, middle class taxes will go up, since there aren't enough Americans who make over $250,000 to pay for the $1.7 TRILLION price tag (along with everything else in the hopper). Medicare encourages medical errors which cost lives, as it prevents markets from improving quality of care. It encourages balkanized fee for service rather than a holistic, total care approach for a patient.

Harvard Business School's Regina E. Herzlinger suggests we need to be clear about the problem we are trying to solve and points to a consumer-oriented solution. She notes most Americans are satisfied with their current healthcare, and is concerned that a universal healthcare--one-size-fits-all approach will cut off more advances.

...the U.S. leads the world in personalized-medicine research, which identifies genetic mutations that cause medical afflictions in order to develop diagnostics and therapies. Because the fruits of this research could eventually cure maladies that today can only be palliated, its impact on our welfare and productivity maybe as profound as that of the Industrial Revolution.

The fragmented Medicare payment system also especially penalizes those with chronic diseases and disabilities, which she states account for 80% of healthcare costs.

There is an overseas model we could look to--the Swiss, which is consumer-driven.

Finally, James Capretta suggests we focus on the uninsured and those who don't have good options today, rather than a massive new program that will most likely make things worse and be near impossible to roll back. Offer a tax credit for healthcare.

Here's one GOP proposal that will be offered this week:

Among other things, the Burr-Coburn bill would establish an advanceable, refundable tax credit for health insurance, worth nearly $2,300 for individuals and just over $5,700 for families. This would make coverage more affordable for the self-employed, the unemployed, and those whose employers don’t provide health benefits — all of whom lose out under the current employer-based system. It would also help workers who are between jobs or are dissatisfied with their employer-provided insurance.

Meanwhile, the legislation would make Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) more attractive by removing the tax penalty on health-insurance premium payments made with HSA money, and by raising the ceiling on annual HSA contributions. In addition, the bill would let High Deductible Health Plans — which are paired with HSAs — cover preventative services.

We can't afford to get this wrong. A consumer-centered solution is the right approach. It's your life at stake.