The Christiano Health Care Plan or The Prevent Martha Stewart From Ever Poll Dancing Again Act.

Since the current health care proposal has now gone the way of the videotape, may I humbly submit my proposal.

I despised the proposed health care legislation, I perceived it as the antithesis of liberty. As one should never tear down without erecting something in its place, here is this writer's health care proposal.

Please try not to lose the will to live while reading the policy proposal, it gets rather policy wonkish in parts. Health care reform is about as sexy as watching Martha Stewart poll dance, however, it is an important issue of life and death for many Americans.

We can work together to reform health care, but it must be the proper kind of pragmatic reform that will have the support of the American people. The last piece of legislation was a lot of things, but the will of the American people it was not.

With thanks to The Reason Foundation, The Heritage Foundation, The Cato Institute, The University of Chicago School of Economics, Mr. John H. Cochrane, and Mr. John Mackey, for information and inspiration to guide my hybrid proposal, I give you my health care reform proposal.

I await your phone call, Mr. President. Well, not really, but one can dream, right?

Allow individuals to completely control their health plan. Laws currently linking health insurance with an individual's employer should be abolished. Allowing the money employers spend for insurance to be converted into additional income for the employee. The employee may then search the free market for the lowest priced coverage with the greatest benefits that they need, and not the plan that their employer imposes upon them. Severe the link between employer and employee health insurance coverage. This would immediately inject cost consciousness into the individual's insurance decisions. Health insurance should be personal and portable, controlled by individuals themselves rather than government or an employer.



Workers should receive a standard deduction, a tax credit for the purchase of health insurance, regardless of whether they receive it through their job or purchase it on their own.



Large Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for every American. Either employment-based, through stocks and mutual funds, or through tax credits.



Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. All Americans have the right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state. They should be able to use that insurance wherever he or she may live.This would immediately increase competition among both insurers and health providers, driving costs down. A recent study suggested that this simple adjustment could cover as many as seventeen million uninsured Americans, without costing taxpayers a cent.



Doctors and other health professionals should be able to take their licenses from state to state. This would provide greater competition among health providers. Also, develop medical clinics in private retail outlets across the nation, as is currently being done by Wal-Mart and CVS Pharmacy.



Provide vouchers to Medicare enrollees. Medicare enrollees should be allowed to choose any health plan in the free-market, and they should be allowed to keep the savings resulting from if they decide to choose an economical plan that fits their unique, individual needs.



"Health - Status Insurance". Medical insurance covers your medical expenses in the current year, minus deductibles and co-payments. Health-status insurance would cover the risk that your medical premiums will rise. If you are diagnosed with a long-term, expensive condition, a health-status insurance policy will give you the resources to pay higher medical insurance premiums. Health-status insurance covers the risk of premium reclassification, just as medical insurance covers the risk of medical expenses.

With health-status insurance, you can always obtain medical insurance, no matter how sick you get, with no change in out-of-pocket costs. With health-status insurance, medical insurers would be allowed to charge sick people more than healthy people, and to compete intensely for all customers. People would have complete freedom to change jobs, move, or change medical insurers. Rigorous competition would allow us to obtain better medical care at lower cost. Health - Status Insurance is the brainchild of health care analyst, and University of Chicago Economist, John H. Cochrane. This policy would protect those with pre-existing health conditions.



Tort Reform. Cap punitive damages in civil litigation, and mandate that the losing party in a given case pay legal costs of the prevailing party. This would reduce nuisance lawsuits. This is only one small aspect of Tort reform that could save the health care industry billions of dollars every year.



Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits. Now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible, but individual health insurance is not.



Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.



Revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance



Abolish the Federal Payroll Tax. Funnel the funds instead into individual state pools that can provide "catastrophic insurance plans" to every American. This proposal would have the added benefit of helping small businesses recover in the current economic recession/depression.