Healthcare Issues - Impact On Costs & Taxes
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Feature Story: Saving Lives; Saving New Jersey

Other Countries Tried the Public Option and it is Failing
By David Gauthier-Villars - August 27, 2009

Vetrans Wrongly Told They Have Fatal Disease
Associated Press - August 25, 2009

Government Care Highlights

New Jersey Economic Disease - Autopsy Findings

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RATIONAL HEALTH CARE REFORM

The current policies proposed in Washington would result in a government takeover of the health care system. These policies would remove all decision-making concerning personal healthcare matters. We need health insurance reform, not health care reform!

There is agreement on many of the problems that plague our current system. They are a lack of accessibility, portability and affordability. The elements to a viable solution would address these issues, yet maintain quality and individual empowerment. They include:

• Create tax equity by equalizing the tax treatment between employer paid health insurance and individual health care plans. Currently, employer provided insurance is paid with pretax dollars and individual health insurance is not. Replacing the current tax exclusion with a system of universal credits would make personal, portable plans market-driven and lower their costs. The government could then direct health insurance savings to help poor individuals and families, as well as those with preexisting conditions, purchase private health insurance. One type of insurance that has proven to reduce costs is to combine health savings accounts with a high deductible health insurance plan. Typically, money not spent in one year (in the health savings account) rolls over to the next year and can grow over time. This creates an incentive to spend these dollars much more carefully. The premium cost for the insurance component is significantly less expensive.
  
  
• Deregulate interstate insurance so insurance companies can compete across state lines. Health insurance should be able to be purchased from any insurance company in any state. Market based reforms would result, because costly government mandates are eliminated. Consumers could tailor their health insurance to their needs.


• Establishing medical malpractice reform would reduce health care costs. Defensive medicine (when doctors perform every conceivable test to protect themselves from malpractice suits) cost between $100 billion to $200 billion each year. These costs are passed on to patients through much higher prices for health care. Higher prices for health care causes higher prices for health insurance.


• Enact medical record-keeping through use of health information technology. Today, a card no bigger than a credit card can hold your entire medical history. This allows doctors and hospitals to instantly access needed medical information.


• Adopt a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, many health issues are self-induced. Cardiac disease, diabetes and obesity are often preventable if proper diet, moderate exercise, not smoking and other positive lifestyle choices are adopted. Safeway employees saved nearly $1000 per year or more with this healthy lifestyle incentive.


• Ensuring patients take their medications. There are many wonderful drugs that help fight chronic disease and cancer. These drugs increase our longevity and allow us to live a better quality of life. Often times, patients don't take medications as prescribed by their doctors contributing to $290 billion a year in avoidable medical spending (including excess hospitalizations). The reasons for noncompliance vary from side effects, the challenge of managing multiple prescriptions, forgetfulness, age, reduced sense of need if patients don't feel any symptoms and cost. Poor medication compliance is a major roadblock to healthcare efficiency. Solutions to this problem include delivering better care to seniors by offering assistance in the elderly patient’s home thus keeping them out of costly nursing facilities, patient education, simplify drug regimens, reducing the cost of drugs for chronic diseases and closer monitoring of patients to improve compliance.

Healthcare reform is essential. Whatever reforms are undertaken, it is mandatory that they be fiscally responsible. The result should not be a centralized, heavy-handed, massive, one-size-fits-all government system. Bureaucrats would ultimately control all healthcare decisions resulting in rationing and much higher taxes. Individuals and families should be able to choose their doctors and be the key decision-makers in their own healthcare.

Robert C. Villare, M.D.
Assembly Candidate, 3rd Legislative District

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• PROTECT MEDICARE. NO CUTS IN MEDICARE, NO FREE CARE FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS AND DON’T CUT MEDICARE IN THE NAME OF HEALTHCARE REFORM: No cuts from Medicare, Medicaid or any other plan to fund seniors’ care. No free healthcare for folks who don't have a right to be in our country. Medicare should not be raided to pay for another entitlement.


• PROHIBIT GOVERNMENT FROM GETTING BETWEEN SENIORS AND THEIR DOCTORS: The government-run healthcare experiment will give patients less power to control their medical decisions, and create government boards that decide what treatments get funded. Doctor Villare believes in patient-centered reforms that put the priorities of seniors before government.


• PROHIBIT EFFORTS TO RATION HEALTH CARE BASED ON AGE: The government-run healthcare experiment sets up a "comparative effectiveness research commission" where treatment decisions could be limited based on a patient's age. I believe that health care decisions are best left up to seniors, their families and their well-trained and informed doctors.


• PREVENT GOVERNMENT FROM INTERFERING WITH END-OF-LIFE CARE DISCUSSIONS: The government-run healthcare experiment mandates seniors meet to discuss end-of-life care. It is none of the government’s business to impose consultants to discuss your end-of-life advanced medical directive. Seniors with their family, their doctor and lawyer can help with this decision; not the government.


• ENSURE SENIORS CAN KEEP THEIR CURRENT COVERAGE: As steep cuts are proposed in Medicare & Medicaid in order to pay for a government-run healthcare experiment, these cuts threaten millions of seniors with being forced from their current Medicare Advantage plans. Seniors will pay more for less. This will not happen in New Jersey under my watch.


• PROTECT VETERANS BY PRESERVING TRICARE AND OTHER BENEFIT PROGRAMS FOR MILITARY FAMILIES: Democrats recently proposed raising veterans' costs for the Tricare For Life program that many veterans rely on for treatment. I oppose increasing a burden on our veterans and believe America owes it to them to extend payment to private university hospitals to provide our veterans the best care and give Veterans Freedom of Choice for their healthcare needs. After all, it is the soldiers who give us our freedom.