As the grandson of self-employed medical doctor and the son of a career clinician, Jeff Takada has witnessed, both as a patient and as an insider, the decay of the medical establishment. What was once the envy of the world has devolved into a morass of paperwork, lobbyists, and an industry teetering on the brink implosion. There are solutions, but not the ones that have been proposed by Washington or our representation here in District 11. An act of Congress created the bloated HMOs we know today and it will take an act of Congress to fix it. But we need the right people in Congress to fix it and Jeff Takada is that person. HMOs, as conceived by politicians, currently drive a wedge between doctors and their patients, between producer and consumer. The free market is the solution to this problem, not the cause. By allowing patients to buy treatment directly from their doctors, rather than through unnecessary middlemen, costs would drop dramatically. Very few have ever gone bankrupt from changing their car’s oil or taking their pet to the veterinarian and because it is a direct transaction, costs can be controlled by the free market, by you, the consumer. Jeff Takada advocates the following specific fixes:
- Allowing doctors to collectively negotiate with insurance companies thereby driving down the cost of medicine and treatment to the patient.
- Making every penny of every medical expense tax deductible.
- Doing away with regulations that get in the way of small business providing affordable medical coverage to their employees.
- Making all Americans eligible for a Health Saving Account (HSA) in which they could set aside pretax money for their anticipated medical needs directly from their paycheck like a 401(k). This would have the effect of greatly reducing the cost of employer paid coverage because employees would not be drawing on their employer paid insurance for routine visits. These could be paid for out of the HSA (it is the equivalent of not using your auto insurance every time you change your oil or wiper blades.) Claims are reduced so premiums go down, doctors go back to doctoring, patients choose their own doctors as you choose a mechanic or vet, and you are free to negotiate costs with your caretaker since they are now a free market player, not a bureaucratic cog.
- Enacting tort reform that would eliminate the predatory lawsuits that drive up insurance costs and do nothing to ensure public safety.
- Allowing employers to deduct matching contributions made to their employees HSA’s from their corporate taxes.
Also read “It’s About Health Care” on the “Jeff’s Thoughts” blog.
