Ron Paul’s Health Ideas Make Economic Sense
By Rick Coddington
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On health care, Paul was quoted as saying: “Health care should not be left up to HMOs, big drug companies and government bureaucrats. It is time to take back our health care.”
That, to me is the solution in a nutshell. As I have said over and over, the problem is insurance and drug company profiteering and the government bureaucrats that propagate this broken system.
Paul starts by proposing to make all medical expenses tax deductible by doing away with the current 7.5 percent IRS deduction. Simply put that means that you wouldn’t have to get to some IRS number to deduct your expenses, they would be immediately and totally cut from your taxes.
Next, Paul proposes eliminating federal regulations that discourage small businesses from providing coverage. He then moves onto the supply side of the problem by proposing to give doctors the right to collectively negotiate with insurance companies and drive down the cost of medical care.Excellent!
Paul goes on to propose changing the rules to make every American eligible for a Health Savings Account, or HSA, and removing the requirement that individuals must obtain a high-deductible insurance policy before opening an HSA. That means that we could pay ourselves (a tax deductible amount), put it into an account that we have control of and immediate access to and not have the insurance execs carving out their percentage from our money.
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