Twenty years ago, health care was a $42 billon per year industry.
Today, health care costs Americans more than $2 billion per day,
more than 14% of our Gross Domestic Product. These soaring costs are
putting enormous financial pressures on American businesses, forcing
thousands of small businesses to reduce or drop benefits for their
employees. Moreover, health care costs are an increasing burden to
already strained family budgets. At the same time, nearly 35 million
Americans lack health insurance.
The only health care reforms that are likely to have a significant
impact on America's health care problems are those that draw on the
strength of the free market. The Libertarian Party has developed a
comprehensive proposal for health care reform that will reduce health
care costs, while extending access to care.
Our five-point
plan is as follows:
Establish Medical Savings Accounts. One key to controlling
health care costs is strengthening the role of the individual health
care consumer. As part of this process, an individual should be exempted
from taxes on money deposited in a Medical Savings Account (MSA), in the
same way that he currently pays no taxes on deposits to an IRA. Money
could be withdrawn from an MSA without penalty to pay medical expenses.
This would increase consumer responsibility, while increasing access and
controlling costs.
Restructure tax policy. As a second consumer-based reform,
taxes should be restructured to establish equity in the treatment of
employer-provided health insurance, individually purchased health
insurance, and out-of-pocket medical expenses. All health care
expenditures should be 100% tax deductible. This will add a measure of
fairness to current tax policies that penalize the self-employed,
part-time workers, and employees of small businesses, while subsidizing
health care for the most affluent in our society.
Deregulate the health care industry. There should be a
thorough examination of the extent to which government policies are
responsible for rising health costs and the unavailability of health
care services. America can help lower health care costs and expand
health care access by taking immediate steps to deregulate the health
care industry, including elimination of mandated benefits, repeal of the
Certificate-of-Need program, and expansion of the scope of practice for
non-physician health professionals.
Replace the FDA. The Food and Drug Administration is
clearly an unnecessary burden on the American health care system. There
is no evidence that agency offers Americans any real protection, but
there is massive evidence that it is causing great harm -- driving up
health care costs and depriving millions of Americans of the medical
care they need. The agency should be abolished and replaced with voluntary
certification by a private-sector organization, similar to the way
Underwriters Laboratories certifies electrical appliances.
Privatize Medicare and Medicaid.The current Medicare and
Medicaid systems have clearly failed. Costs are skyrocketing. Patients
are receiving second rate care. And, providers are being shortchanged.
The time is ripe for drastic reform. The federal government should begin
to restructure the system to give Medicaid and Medicare recipients more
flexibility to purchase private health insurance.
