5 Steps to Affordable Health Care

Lost in the 2,800 page behemoth Affordable Care Act (a/k/a "Obamacare"), which our legislators haven’t read much less understand, is the namesake goal of making our healthcare system affordable. Neither our current system nor the Act ensure medical coverage nor do they adequately address the ever escalating and unaffordable costs associated with medical services. The goal of these proposed 5 steps is to broaden the insured "risk pool", provide a "safety net" for low income individuals, bridge-the-gap in coverage caused by "pre-existing medical conditions" and lessen the personal and financial devastation of "medical malpractice" injuries. The 5 largely marketplace steps are:

(1) Allow private medical insurers to sell policies across state lines (similar to auto insurers) thereby increasing the risk pool and decreasing premium expense;

(2) Expand ERISA plan sponsorship and participation by relaxing the requirements of "multi employer plans" and allowing for the aggregation of increased numbers of plans thereby increasing the risk pool and decreasing premium expense;

(3) Provide a healthcare safety net to means tested individuals by subsidizing their participation in private health care plans similar to the Social Security Administrations’ purchase of private insurance policies to fund Social Security Disability (SSD) benefits;

(4) Compensate private insurers for the additional costs associated with accepting individuals with pre-existing medical conditions into the aforementioned expanded risk pool programs; and

(5) Provide federal preemption and reform of medical malpractice tort law to ensure a uniform statutory remedy while simultaneously providing increased peer review of the 5% of providers who are responsible for nearly 95% of all medical malpractice injuries.

These 5 steps to affordable healthcare can be implemented in a succinct and constitutional bill if the public demands our legislators’ bipartisan support.

Mr. Tischler welcomes your inquires regarding the denial of ERISA health plan benefits.