Forbes_USA_June_13_2017

FACT & COMMENT
“With all thy getting, get understanding”
HOW TO MAKE HEALTH CARE
BETTER AND CHEAPER
BY STEVE FORBES, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
THREE BIG THINGS remain to be done to
turn health care from a seemingly hopeless,
ever expanding liability into a superinnovative,
productivity-rich, patient-oriented
market, in which the costs of cures, medicines
and devices would rapidly drop.
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BODF Allow individuals to buy insurance
from any company in any state. This would
create a more competitive and national
market. Additional companies and plans
would be vying for your business. Right
now if you live in New Jersey and want to buy a policy offered
in Wisconsin, you’re barred from doing so. Such a change
would also spur greater growth of multistate insurance plans
and medical networks.
House Republicans promise they will someday get around to
this crucial change. The Senate should add it to its version now.
t&RVBMUBYUSFBUNFOU Both individuals and employers should
get tax deductions for buying health insurance (until we get the
flat tax). Why should only businesses and the self-employed
get tax deductions for buying insurance? Why not individuals?
If we’re to get a vigorous and healthy market for individual
buyers of insurance—and that’s absolutely crucial if
we’re to avoid a socialist system of inferior care and a lack of
innovation—we must end this tax discrimination.
Even if a company offers insurance, why should that be a
take-it-or-leave-it proposition for workers? If you don’t like
the employer plan, you should be able to opt out and get a
better one with your tax-free dollars.
tćFGSFFEPNUPCVZQMBOTyouXBOU. House Republicans
took baby steps toward letting states grant insurers some
flexibility—if they get Uncle Sam’s permission—in coverage
mandates. Obamacare’s extensive mandates enormously
increased insurance premiums. Removing most, if not all, of
these diktats would cut costs for individual buyers. Moreover,
freeing up the market would make it easier for new types of
policies and consumer choices to emerge.
The Trump administration should also promulgate two
huge regulatory changes.
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In the upper New England region, for
example, the price of a nuclear stress test
for cardiac patients can range from $1,450
to $7,000.
Fifty million Americans now have highdeductible
insurance policies, mostly
from their employers. Pricing transparency
is becoming essential.
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The number of deaths nationwide is nearly 100,000 a year,
and you can bet that the vast majority of these could be
prevented through rigorous internal measures. This would
also eliminate the substantial costs associated with treating
these secondary infections.
All the Way With USAs!
House Republicans will now be focusing on tax cuts, and
there’s a great idea for a fantastic consumer-savings vehicle
that the GOP should be sure to incorporate in any legislation
they pass. It would be immensely popular and a
major creator of capital. Called Universal Savings Accounts
(USAs) by their sponsors, Senator Jeff Flake (R–AZ) and
Representative Dave Brat (R–VA), these plans possess the
virtues of Roth IRAs with none of the drawbacks.
Everyone over the age of 18, regardless of income, could
open a USA and contribute up to $5,500 a year with aftertax
cash. The money would grow tax-free. You could invest
it in stocks or bonds or let it sit in money-market funds.
Now for its greatest feature: You could make withdrawals
any time you wanted, tax-free, for whatever reason, with
no penalties. There would be no Washington/IRS/congressional
nannies micromanaging your choices.
USAs would be so popular that Congress would soon be
under great pressure to raise deposit limits, perhaps by folding
in other savings vehicles, such as Roth IRAs, rollover
401(k)s (when you leave a company) and Coverdell Education
Savings Accounts. (Congress, take note: Britain’s ceiling
JUNE 13, 2017 FORBES | 11