- We need to return to the notion of "health insurance" instead of "health care payment plan." Today's "health insurance" couldn't be farther from insurance; it is merely a health care payment program today. Used to be, insurance was insurance (that is, insuring against major, unpredictable loss). Today it is simply a means of paying for health care (e.g., you have at least 6 months' advanced notice that you are going to have a baby, so that should not be an insurable event; also, annual physicals are, well, annual, so insurance should not cover them).
- Expanding on #1, government dictate on what must be covered by health "insurance" raises premiums, since now practically everything health related must be covered. If health insurance covered only truly insurable items, then premiums would drop.
- We need to bring the consumer closer to the transaction. Today, people pay $10 to go to the doctor for every sniffle; those doctor visits cost upwards of $100. Used to be, patients paid for regular doctor visits out of pocket, and insurance only covered major, unpredictable things. This over-consumption is causing prices to increase.
- We need to get rid of the notion that employers provide health insurance. Prior to WW2, people bought their own health insurance; salary freezes during WW2 caused employers to look for other ways to woo employees. We individually purchase auto, life, and other kinds of insurance; health insurance should be the same way.
- Consumers should be able to buy insurance across state lines. If I see a health insurance plan in another state that I like, I should be able to buy it.
- It isn't wholly related to health care, but to properly fix our health care system we also need tort reform. The one change of making it a loser-pays system would go a long way to doing that.
Also, if Congress really wanted to help control the price of drugs, they could:
- Make it easier to get a drug approved and to market (cutting regulation cuts costs, which cuts prices)
- lengthen patent lifespans (which allows lower prices)
Doing these things would go a long way to fixing the problems in our health care system. Further government intervention is not the answer; every time government has intervened, prices have increased. If we truly want prices to decrease, we need to eliminate or limit the government intervention.