A practical solution for America’s healthcare crisis

A crisis created by a fragmented public-private insurance industry

 

A SOLUTION

An outline for creating a Federal Healthcare Insurance Agency:

1.  Congress enacts and the President signs law creating a Federal Healthcare Insurance Agency, an independent establishment of the executive branch of the United States. The President appoints a Board of Governors to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The Board appoints a CEO.

2.  A new Congressional oversight committee oversees the Agency budget and operations. All Medicare assets and employees are trans­ferred to the new Agency whereas all VA assets are sold or closed.

3.  A sufficient flat rate payroll income tax, split between employee and employer, replacing the current Medicare tax is commenced. Self em­ployed persons pay quarterly. All local, state, and Federal government agencies would participate and adjust budgets to account for the Agency’s takeover of healthcare.

4.  Healthcare providers supply application forms for obtaining required picture ID cards. Healthcare providers bill cli­ent/customer/patient services to Agency re­gional centers via electronic terminals provided and serviced by the Agency.

5.  Within thirty calendar days, all healthcare recipients receive a paper invoice itemizing service and a block-print statement offering a reward for fraud disclosure. Within ninety calendar days, all healthcare providers are paid via wire transfer to a bank.

6.  All foreign national healthcare services are billed to their home countries quarterly; USAID and trade agreements are attached and published on the internet, for those countries that don’t pay their bill. Total foreign country-by-country billing is also published on the internet as well as the national media.

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U.S. Constitution

Amendment XIV, Section 1 (Ratified July 9, 1869)

 

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the juris­diction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citi­zens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any per­son within its juris­diction the equal pro­tection of the laws.  (Emphasis added)

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Contact us:

Healthcarenow@sbcglobal.net

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Write to us:

RWB

P.O. BOX 2964

ORANGE CA 92869

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see

www.americanhealthcarereform.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last update April 8, 2009

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America, gifted with a wealth of ex­pert health­care giv­ers, and argua­bly the world’s best medi­cal equipment and fa­cilities, is bogged down in a healthcare spend­ing cri­sis. The fragmented public-private insurance industry spent more than $2.4 trillion, an unsustainable 16% of the gross na­tional product, on 2008 healthcare. That is a deep hole in the economy. The old saw “when you find yourself in a deep hole, quit digging” applies here. To get out of the financial hole, we must understand America’s public private healthcare dilemma.

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·        MEDICARE:   Estab­lished in 1965, Medicare Parts A and B were designed to pro­vide hospital and doctor care for all U.S. citizens over 65 years of age. In 1972 it was extended to cover the disabled of any age, and one year later, Part C, branded Advan­tage, was added to pay HMOs an overly generous monthly premium to take care of Medicare recipients. Effec­tive in 2006, drug company in­vented and con­trolled, Part D was created to subsi­dize prescription drugs. To date, hearing and vision aren’t covered. An insufficient flat rate payroll tax and a modest monthly member premium theoreti­cally funds the Medicare Trust, but most experts predict the Trust will be broke by 2016. Part of the high cost of Medicare is caused by only insuring the disabled and elderly.

·        MEDICAid:   Managed by the states and funded with federal and compro­mised state general tax revenue, Medicaid is not part of Medicare. Created for those low income fami­lies that can’t afford private insur­ance, Medicaid (Medical in Califor­nia) is means tested, that is, anyone looking for Medicaid help must submit an indigent statement.

·        veterans affairs:  Administered by political ap­pointees and subject to the whim of Congressional spend­ing bills, Veter­ans Affairs owns and operates more than 1200 clinics, hospitals, medical centers, and long-term healthcare facilities. With an $87 billion budget, all veterans should have access to the best healthcare without regard to their military ser­vice or ability to pay. But only veter­ans with service connected medical needs qualify for VA care, and, for all but the destitute, a co-pay is re­quired. Complaints of poor care are common.

·        HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY:  The profit motivated private retail healthcare insurance indus­try, dominated by just a few well-healed companies, spends 25% of all U.S. healthcare dollars on admin­istrative overhead, executive salaries, and profit. They cherry pick the popula­tion for healthy peo­ple (Medicare in reverse), thus subvert­ing the common “spread the risk” insurance objec­tive. A single mother with treatable liver disease earning $60,000 annu­ally can’t get health­care insurance at any price, while a family of four with an an­nual in­come of $40,000 from a business that does not pro­vide health­care insurance, can’t afford $800-$900 per month for insurance. Neither example would qualify for Medi­caid. Profit moti­vated individ­ual retail healthcare insurance is not affordable.

·        UNEQUAL:  Medicare, Medi­caid, Veterans Affairs, and private retail healthcare insurance are incom­patible with the U.S. Constitu­tion’s 14th amend­ment that provides in part: “No state shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (empha­sis added).  Each organiza­tion restricts benefits based on one or all of the following: age, health, income, military ser­vice, or resi­dency. Hidden in plain sight, the federal government, through the IRS, unfairly
subsidizes employer paid healthcare by exempting em­ployer contribu­tions from taxation as in­come.

·        a SOLUTION:  Short of mandates or socialized medicine, there is a practical solu­tion for insuring everyone at an afford­able cost — replace Medicare, Medi­caid, Veterans Affairs, and profit motivated private retail health­care insurance with a Federal Healthcare Insurance Agency (FHIA), an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States. FHIA, paid for by a payroll tax split between em­ployee and em­ployer, and cost con­tained by a small deductible coupled with a life time limit on charges for care, would not own or operate healthcare facilities, employ health­care profes­sionals, or make medical care decisions. All health­care, pre­scrip­tion drugs, dental and vision care would be delivered by existing pri­vate, non-government businesses competing “for profit.” A single-payer FHIA would pay for the health­care of any person in the United States regardless of age, citi­zenship, ethnic origin, health, mili­tary service, race, or religion. For­eign nationals’ care could be billed to their home country.

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·        REPLACING:   Replacing America’s frag­mented pub­lic-private healthcare establishment will require a large staff of account­ants, administrators, consulting medi­cal doctors, investi­gators, law­yers, and technicians. FHIA will be expensive; however, based on common sense cost as­sump­tions, an  FHIA administra­tion would be a finan­cially supe­rior alter­native to the exceedingly ex­pensive, grossly ineffi­cient, un­equal healthcare we are paying for now.

·        WHO SHOULD CARE:  All American healthcare consumers, for-profit hospitals and doctors, seniors, veterans, and especially employers have a vested interest in FHIA.