Repeal the current Healthcare Bill and replace it with the following:

• Tort Reform
• The ability for insurance companies to compete across state lines
•  A means to use Health Savings Accounts or something similar to achieve portability 
• A means for individuals with pre-existing conditions to participate in a pool that State Government can subsidize
• Insist that Medicare and Medicaid move toward reimbursing doctors at market rates
• A means to wean Medicare and Medicaid from government programs to private programs with the overall goal to eliminate both government programs in ten or fifteen years

Argument:  Difficult, Not Impossible

As I listen to the pundits talk of the difficulty to repeal this Healthcare Bill I am given to wonder whether they have thought out the strategy required to do it.  Sure it will be difficult, but it is not impossible.   The first thing to recognize is that the delay in all benefits kicking in until 2014 will have a benefit in that the entire population will not be dependent upon the benefits from this legislation until after the 2012 election.  

I have in several editorials identified what I refer to as a 2/3 Plan.   My 2/3 Plan recognizes that we will need a 2/3 supermajority of votes in both the House and the Senate to override what would be a certain presidential veto if the next house and Senate were to pass a repeal of this Healthcare Bill.  Everyone knows this.  Certainly it is obvious to persons like Michael Steele and other senior officials of the Republican Party. 

Where I fear we differ is that I believe we can gain the 2/3 majority we need in both the senate and the house without the entire 2/3 being Republicans in the Senate.   What we need will be effective control, not actual control. 

In the 2010 Election we have the ability to take 2/3 of the seats in the House of Representatives because in the House all seats are open.   We all saw what happened in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia.  If we set the bar high enough is there not a possibility that we could win 277 seats?  I believe this is entirely possible and it should be up to Mr. Steele to identify those states and those districts that are the most vulnerable.  Strategies must be developed to win where the Republicans have not traditionally won.  We cannot give up on any seat except Representative Pelosi’s seat.  I would be happy to have her as the one democrat left in the House of Representatives to let her feel more than the pain of being in the minority.  She knows that pain.  I want her to feel the pain of disenfranchisement and see her completely neutered in a House she once controlled.  This would likely be a greater punishment than sending her to jail for the extortion and purchasing of votes she did with taxpayer money. 

Mathematically we cannot obtain 2/3 actual control in the Senate because not enough seats are up for election in 2010.   However, we can get 51 votes in the Senate and this we must do.   At the very least we can then control legislation.  We would not have sufficient votes to obtain cloture but in my mind, this does not matter.  What matters is everyone’s look at 2012.   In 2012, 29 democrats are up for reelection.   I want these Senators to see an overwhelming victory by Republicans in 2010, one that propels a supermajority into the House.  I want them to recognize that the same fate can also befall them unless early in 2011 they show a willingness to work with Republicans, listen to the American people and repeal this Healthcare Bill.  We would need 16 of those 29 Senators fearful enough of their reelection that they would vote with the Republicans and repeal this legislation in 2011 so that in 2012 it will already be a forgotten issue.  It would not be a political issue that we want in 2012.  It will be the restoration of our republic and the recognition that only through capitalistic markets can this country restore and maintain its economic global leadership.     

This will be difficult.  But wasn’t it also difficult for our ancestors in Boston, Concord, Lexington, New York, Trenton, Valley Forge and Yorktown?  We cannot fail to do things because they are hard.  At Valley Forge and in Trenton our ancestors marched through the snow with only canvas wrappings on their feet.   It was this kind of toughness that made us free.   So, when things are hard we must look in the mirror and decide whether we are up to the challenge as exemplified by those men in General Washington’s army.   If not I would invite candidates to step aside and leave the job to those who are ready to lead.   This would naturally mean that we would need to put all internal party differences aside until we are once again in control.  It will not help if Republicans join with Democrats and sponsor controversial legislation like Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants that will certainly divide our country and the Republican Party.   We must rely upon Republicans to do this because no third party will provide the benefits that can be achieved by a unified Republican Party.   We must save all other debates until 2013, after Healthcare has been repealed and replaced by a more reasonable Healthcare Bill that is initially limited to the following:

• Tort Reform – caps on lawsuits and measures that ensure that the loser in any case pays the attorney fees of the winner. 
• Increase competition by allowing insurance companies to compete across state lines.
• Find a way to use Health Savings Accounts or something similar to allow individuals to buy their own insurance if they so desire and have employers contribute to individual private accounts like they do to 401K Retirement Plans from which they can purchase their own insurance and thus achieve portability.    
• Provide a means for individuals with pre-existing conditions to join a pool that State Government can subsidize to enable coverage for such conditions without breaking the backs of insurance companies.
• Insist that Medicare and Medicaid move toward reimbursing doctors at market rates.  Reasonable and customary cannot be allowed to be 40% of what insurance companies pay.  These price controls only force the cost of medicine to the private insurance companies and other healthcare patients.    
• Find a means to wean Medicare and Medicaid from government programs to private programs with the overall goal to replace both programs in ten years.  Allow private companies to administer their own programs with the government reducing taxes 10% of the original base each year.  Tax revenues through this period must be passed through to those companies administering these programs by some equitable means as long as taxes are collected.   A reduction of the Department of Health and Human Services should be immediate as that portion of the agency that once managed claims would transfer their work to these private sector companies.    

These are ideas, not iron-clad positions that are what I would ever believe to be the only way to handle healthcare reform but they emphasize reliance in the private marketplace, increase competition and reduce overall insurance and healthcare costs by reducing onerous regulation and finding separate ways to help those who otherwise want to but cannot purchase insurance.  

In the end our focus needs to recognize that insurance companies are private businesses that were established to provide a service to persons by allowing them to spread their risk of illnesses they do not currently have across a wide population of people.   As private businesses, they have the right to determine who their market should be, what prices they should charge and above all, to earn a profit.   What is a reasonable profit should only be determined by the market.   If insurance companies overcharge for their services you can expect other insurance companies to step into that market until such time as the marginal revenue gained by entry is equal to the marginal cost of providing the service.   States should remain free to identify rules as to their liquidity and their reserves and they should be monitored by State Insurance Commissions but we must be cooperating with these companies, not treating them as a scapegoat or as an enemy.