Friday, March 11, 2016

2 ideas on healthcare, 1 good and the other not so much

The Republican debate on the day of Feb. 25 had front-runner Donald Trump, and to a lesser extent Sens.Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Ted Cruz (Texas), presenting what merely can be characterized as a silly concept for healthcare reform. In contrast, a recent Wall Street Journal article, "Companies make New Alliance to Target Health-Care Costs" presented a sensible proposal.


Let's discuss the silly concept first. Trump spent much time waving his hands and drawing what appeared to be lines in the air (I did notice that his hair didn't move), which purportedly supported his concept that there would be great competition — if not magnificent competition — if merely companies could sell healthcare insurance across state lines. This has been a staple of Republican attacks against ObamaCare for years.


Presently, every state in the US needs some level of scrutiny before permitting any insurance company (healthcare, property and casualty, life insurance, etc.) to sell insurance within its borders. States need to make certain that the companies selling insurance to their citizens have, in fact, the economic resources and are managed suitably to be in a position to pay claims submitted by their citizens.


Now let's move on to the good concept. The Wall Street Journal reported, as noted above, that a various large companies (among them American Express, Macy's and Verizon) intend to make an alliance that will use their data and market power in an effort to hold down the cost of healthcare.

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