Let’s fix healthcare costs before the socialists try to do it

The reason people are flirting with the idea of socialism is simply that the costs of healthcare and housing are too high and Congress is not solving it. Those in power get the blame. With the seeming internal take-over of the Democratic Party by the Democratic Socialists of America, the promises of quick fixes by punishing the rich corporations are seemingly plausible, with catch phrases like “Medicare-for-All.”

Healthcare is increasingly the No. 1 issue for voters. There is a stranglehold by both hospital and insurance corporate cartels subsidized by government cronyism, profoundly worsened by ObamaCare (the ironically named Affordable Care Act). Voters are now willing to try something else if elected officials won’t act.

Politicians promising “Medicare-for-All,” on the other hand, is a promise they cannot keep. Medicare itself is managed by insurance companies, whose profits are a percentage of premiums, and over-billed by both insurance and hospitals. Eventually, government-run healthcare has to raise taxes or ration medical care. Or, as in the case of Canada and the U.K., they do both.

Healthcare reform was forefront at the Republican Midterm Convention, and there is the opportunity to dramatically improve healthcare through reconciliation before the election or before the new congressional session. The middlemen will lose fortunes with reform, but they are not doing anything to help actual medical care or lower the costs. It is time to bypass them. Current federal rules are causing harm and feeding the cartels. This list of reforms can lower costs 50 percent, by restoring patient and physician control with commonsense reform and a safety net for those who need it. 

1. Expand Catastrophic Plans to all ages and incomes. Catastrophic or major medical plans are just that: plans for major high-cost........

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