Issue Position: Healthcare

Issue Position

Jeff Ghrist believes that affordable and accessible heath care should be expanded to more people. He does not believe that the federal government should use their strategy of redistribution of wealth to accomplish this through the so called Affordable Care Act. Health care reform should be focused on lowering costs to consumers and businesses so that coverage can be more affordable and expanded to cover more of the uninsured.

According to a report by the board of trustees for Medicare and Social Security, The Medicare trust fund will become insolvent by 2026. Given the insolvency of Social Security and Medicare, surely it is reasonable to question why Democrats forced Obamacare down the throats of Americans. We know there was a relatively short period of time when they controlled both the legislative and executive branches of government. Had they waited and compromised with some of the conservative healthcare reform ideas we might have had different results.

Jeff adamantly opposes the Obamacare. Competing with the private industry and mandating individuals and businesses to pay for healthcare contradicts everything that is guaranteed as our right to liberty. Our forefathers sacrificed their lives to fight against this kind of government intrusion. Unfortunately we have elected officials who have a strong appetite for power over you and your family and are willing to do what it takes buy votes. Healthcare reform is absolutely necessary however our historically corrupt and inefficient federal government should stay clear and allow the professionals to compete and offer low cost options for all of us.

For those who accuse conservatives of not having ideas of their own...here are a few. These ideas are not new or original. Conservative leaders have been talking about the following principles for years.

Elimination of interstate commerce barriers. Americans who are not fortunate enough to get insurance from large employers or poor enough to qualify for Medicaid are at the mercy of choosing their health coverage in a monopolistic market using income that has already been taxed. The small numbers of available insurance companies are at the mercy of self serving legislators who place tremendous mandates by requiring certain types of coverage. Some mandates like "guaranteed issue" (people can wait until they are sick before obtaining insurance and "community rating" (forces insurance companies to charge the same rate no matter the health risk) appear compassionate until they force many people out of the market because policies become too expensive. Ironically it is often the insurance companies who are asking for these mandates to artificially increase demand for expanded policies or provide over insurance for healthy policy holders. People should be able to choose a policy that fits their needs from anywhere in our country.
Malpractice tort reform. Any malpractice tort reform effort must balance the interests of injured patients, doctors, and the insurance industry while lowering costs, improving access, and ensuring quality. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, 93 percent of high risk specialists reported that they sometimes or often engaged in defensive medicine. Doctors who order unnecessary tests to protect themselves from costly lawsuits certainly contribute to higher healthcare costs. To reduce the threat of potential frivolous claims Jeff supports caps on non-economic damages and adopting a "loser pays" rule for attorney's fees.
Free Market Insurance Exchanges. There is a serious problem with the lack of competition among insurers. Jeff supports private free market exchanges that will allow small businesses and associations to pool together and negotiate with insurance companies for prices and plans that fit the needs of their workers or members. Insurance companies should be allowed to bid on these pools of workers and associations anywhere in the country. Any exchange should not include a public option. Private insurance companies cannot compete with the federal government which has taxing authority at its disposal. Free Market insurance exchanges will help small businesses and self employed workers.
Health Savings Accounts. Currently, workers who do not obtain health insurance in an employment setting must purchase insurance with income that has already been taxed. Those who take advantage of employer sponsored plans do so because it is part of the compensation package. Unfortunately most people believe that it is their employers, not them (by accepting lower wages and other benefits) who are paying for their insurance. Because workers feel as though they are not paying for all of their coverage will consequently demand more coverage than they would otherwise if they paid for their medical costs out of pocket. Because they have more insurance than they might otherwise need they also demand more medical services than necessary. Employer sponsored healthcare recipients have little incentive to reduce their medical consumption. This drives up the cost of healthcare. High demand for potentially unnecessary tests and procedures are paid for by insurance companies. They have to recover these costs by charging higher premiums. Prepaid insurance policies like Health Savings Accounts will allow people to own and control the finances, coverage and care, and therefore would search for health plans and providers that deliver on their specific needs rather than relying on their employer to offer plans that may not fit their needs. HSAs are owned by the consumer and follow them from job to job. The employer sponsored system lacks that portability. A worker and their employer can make tax-free contributions to the worker's HSA. The expenses and interest earned from the HSA are likewise not taxed. Supplemental insurance offerings are available for catastrophic events. Because consumers directly pay for their medical expenses they will have incentive to limit their consumption thereby lowering demand and ultimately lowering our country's overall medical costs. While Jeff supports moving toward a more free market system he does not support the elimination of the employer sponsored plans. He supports promoting and offering alternatives that might lower overall healthcare costs and provide more options.
Expanded small urgent care facilities. For rural areas like the mid-shore expanded urgent care facilities are necessary. Hospital visits are expensive for both the patient and taxpayers. EMS services are heavily subsidized and an effort must be made to reduce the number of ambulance transports to emergency rooms.
Increase number of primary care physicians. Lower pay, less prestige, high medical school debt and more administrative responsibilities have turned doctors away from family medicine which is one our lowest cost practices in medical care. Primary care doctors encourage healthy habits, manage chronic conditions, and provide routine check-ups and immunizations. Unfortunately many uninsured Americans use our emergency rooms rather than primary care physicians resulting in higher costs of healthcare.
The problem will be exacerbated as the healthcare system will face a serious shortage of both primary care and specialist physicians. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges Center for Workforce Studies, there will be a shortage of 45,000 primary care physicians 46,000 surgeons by 2020.

The state and the federal governments should provide greater incentives for medical students to move into family medicine and promote young people to enter into a medical career. This will not only lower costs but will help healthcare access in rural areas like the upper and mid-shore.

"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves."-Ronald Reagan

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