Health Care: Republicans Beware

It is becoming increasingly clear that Obamacare, the whole shebang, is going to be declared unconstitutional. If reports hold true, it will be a stunning victory for the citizens of the United States. Polls show the bill is scathingly unpopular, passed on Christmas Eve in the middle of the night, passed among some of the dirtiest deals Congress has seen in years, and finally extinguishing Barack Obama's view of an expansionist government dictating through political whim whatever do-gooding idea some whack job may come up with. Let's not even mention the exemptions granted to the favored few as political rewards while the rest of us are left to wallow in the fear of death panels.

It is a double edged sword. Now the health care issue belongs to the Republicans. If what the pundits think is going to happen does in fact happen, the Republicans will have the mess that existed in our health care system at the beginning of the Obamacare fiasco. There will still be a large amount of uninsured Americans. Issues with pre-existing conditions. Medicaid is in shambles. The Republicans cannot punt or push back paying attention to these very serious issues.

But I am optimistic. While you were sleeping in your Obama induced trance, there have been changes in the health care system as the market begins to address at least the fringes of these issues. Most encouraging is the formation of private, free standing clinics that can provide basic medical care for colds, flu, sore throats, coughs and minor infections in places like Walmart. The Mahoning Valley is one of the few places that doesn't have that service. Instead, free standing clinics providing these services are popping up here and there. The cost to use any of these services is minimal, affordable for the individual without insurance and greatly reducing the strain on and the cost of emergency room services and the associated insurance costs.

The Republicans plan to use the states as the vehicles to provide health care relief through the use of block grants to allow the states to tailor their solution to the needs of the state. For example, a state with a large elderly population may find a different solution to a state with a large number of unemployed urban dwellers. The solution may be through insurance, or it may be through state sponsored clinics, or tax breaks to private service providers.

There is only one way to bring down the cost of health care, and that is to allow citizens to pay the bill and search for the best deal. Health care costs would plummet. Individual health savings accounts may be the catalyst for this kind of approach.

Treatment of those with pre-existing conditions is the ultimate issue, especially those who are over 50 years old and have lost their job and benefits. This is a tough one. But at the end of the day, some combination of individual health savings accounts and catastrophic insurance may provide the solution to this problem, as well as the health care problem as a whole.

Whatever it takes, Republicans better be ready to move on the issue...and quickly if they expect to win the trust and confidence of the American people.