That should have begun with rapid repeal-and-replacement of Obamacare, that steaming, stinking pile of failed legislative dung that has driven the cost of health care beyond the reach of a large plurality of Americans.
After all, Republicans sent repeal bill after repeal bill to former President Obama while he was in office.
And, let's not forget, they ran on repeal and replacement of Obamacare, just as President Trump did last election cycle.
Finally, and by the skin of their teeth, the GOP managed to limp through a bill that sort of replaces portions of Obamacare, while leaving some of the most damaging provisions – those that are largely responsible for driving up the cost of care and health insurance coverage – intact. (RELATED: Don’t let Democrats tell you that Obamacare repeal will ‘kill children’ – and other nonsense)
Worse, there is a cabal of RINOs – Republicans In Name Only – in the Senate just waiting to water it down even further…that is, if the chamber even passes anything at all. Seems like former House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio knew exactly what he was talking about in February when he “predicted” that Obamacare would never be completely repealed and replaced.
Enough, already. Americans quite frankly cannot count on Congress – at least enough members of Congress – to do the right thing. Most people want to get the federal government out of the health insurance/health care regulation business altogether, and give that right back to the states and the free market, like it used to be.
In fact, one think tank – the Texas Public Policy Foundation – is recommending that very thing.
In a recent column for The Daily Caller, Deane Waldman, director of the Center for Health Care at the TPPF, wrote that state lawmakers and the voters they serve should have the liberty and freedom to design a healthcare system of their choosing, not one imposed on them by a Congress full of control freaks and their donor-lobbyists:
Washington cannot seem to make a good decision regarding healthcare. Yet the answer is staring them in the face: Just say yes…to the states.
California wants single payer. The California Senate Health Committee just passed a resolution (5-2) to create a statewide, single payer system that would “dramatically expand the government’s presence in medical care.”
Texas wants the government to get out of healthcare. They want a free market-based system where Texans are in control.
There are likely many variations of what state-based systems would look like, but that’s okay because the idea should be, people should be able to decide for themselves what kind of system they prefer to live under, generally speaking.
In California’s case, a state legislator has introduced a bill that would cover everyone 100 percent – legal or illegal – with no co-pays and no deductibles. Insurance companies would be banned from competing with the government-run system, so that would mean, pretty much, there would be no private health insurance industry in the Golden State.
Texas, by comparison, wants a completely free-market system, which “reconnects buyer with seller, reestablishes personal responsibility, eliminates perverse incentives, and returns insurance to its original function,” writes Waldman. “Texas believes that is the best way to get care to most Texans in a timely manner, and at a price they can afford.”
There are detractors to both plans, as you might expect. But so what? Regardless of which system you agree with the most, isn’t it an issue for Californians and Texans – and Missourians, and Utahans, and Arizonans and Maine residents and North Dakotans – to decide for themselves? (RELATED: Supreme Court's Obamacare decision hands federal government unlimited power to force you to spend 100% of your paycheck on things you don't even want)
There are some points that must be worked out concerning federal health care spending on programs like Medicare and Medicaid, but even here, the TPPF notes, states should decide how best to spend those dollars because state lawmakers are closer to the people. Block grants should be provided to states and once those funds run out for the fiscal year, states are just going to have to deal with it.
The inability of Congress to get rid of a law everyone on Capitol Hill knows is broken demonstrates clearly why Washington has no right and no business “managing” our healthcare in the first place.
J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.
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