I got to thinking about this after the thread asking what everyone's top issue is...

I know that both the Democrats and the Republicans agree that health care in this country is a problem, and I am pretty familiar with both of the plans of the top Democrat candidates, but I am at a complete loss as to what any of the Republicans think we should do to fix it.

Anyone wanna clue me in here? I am really curious.

They want to give a tax deduction as a reward for having health insurance.

John McCain

http://johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm

John McCain is willing to address the fundamental problem: the rapidly rising cost of U.S. health care.

* Bringing costs under control is the only way to stop the erosion of affordable health insurance, save Medicare and Medicaid, protect private health benefits for retirees, and allow our companies to effectively compete around the world.
* Families should be in charge of their health care dollars and have more control over their care. We can improve health and spend less, while promoting competition on the cost and quality of care, taking better care of our citizens with chronic illness, and promoting prevention that will keep millions of others from ever developing deadly and debilitating disease.
* While we reform the system and maintain quality, we can and must provide access to health care for all our citizens - whether temporarily or chronically uninsured, whether living in rural areas with limited services, or whether residing in inner cities where access to physicians is often limited.
* America's veterans have fought for our freedom. We should give them freedom to choose to carry their VA dollars to a provider that gives them the timely care at high quality and in the best location.
* Controlling health care costs will take fundamental change - nothing short of a complete reform of the culture of our health system and the way we pay for it will suffice. Reforms to federal policy and programs should focus on enhancing quality while controlling costs:
* Promote competition throughout the health care system - between providers and among alternative treatments.
* Make patients the center of care and give them a larger role in both prevention and care, putting more decisions and responsibility in their hands.
* Make public more information on treatment options and require transparency by providers regarding medical outcomes, quality of care, costs, and prices.
* Facilitate the development of national standards for measuring and recording treatments and outcomes.
* Reform the payment systems in Medicare to compensate providers for diagnosis, prevention, and care coordination. Medicare should not pay for preventable medical errors or mismanagement.
* Dedicate federal research on the basis of sound science resulting in greater focus on care and cure of chronic disease
* Give states the flexibility to, and encourage them to experiment with: alternative forms of access; risk-adjusted payments per episode covered under Medicaid; use of private insurance in Medicaid; alternative insurance policies and insurance providers; and, different licensing schemes for medical providers.
* Build genuine national markets by permitting providers to practice nationwide.
* Promote rapid deployment of 21st century information systems.
* Support innovative delivery systems, such as clinics in retail outlets and other ways that provide greater market flexibility in permitting appropriate roles for nurse practitioners, nurses, and doctors.
* Where cost-effective, employ telemedicine, and community and mental health clinics in areas where services and providers are limited.
* Foster the development of routes for safe, cheaper generic versions of drugs and biologic pharmaceuticals. Develop safety protocols that permit re-importation to keep competition vigorous.
* Pass tort reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits and excessive damage awards. Provide a safe harbor for doctors that follow clinical guidelines and adhere to patient safety protocols.
* Protect the health care consumer through vigorous enforcement of federal protections against collusion, unfair business actions, and deceptive consumer practices.

John McCain believes that insurance reforms should increase the variety and affordability of insurance coverage available to American families by fostering competition and innovation.

* Reform the tax code to eliminate the bias toward employer-sponsored health insurance, and provide all individuals with a $2,500 tax credit ($5,000 for families) to increase incentives for insurance coverage. Individuals owning innovative multi-year policies that cost less than the full credit can deposit remainder in expanded health savings accounts.
* Families should be able to purchase health insurance nationwide, across state lines, to maximize their choices, and heighten competition for their business that will eliminate excess overhead, administrative, and excessive compensation costs from the system.
* Insurance should be innovative, moving from job to home, job to job, and providing multi-year coverage.
* Require any state receiving Medicaid to develop a financial "risk adjustment" bonus to high-cost and low-income families to supplement tax credits and Medicaid funds.
* Allow individuals to get insurance through any organization or association that they choose: employers, individual purchases, churches, professional association, and so forth. These policies will be available to small businesses and the self-employed, will be portable across all jobs, and will automatically bridge the time between retirement and Medicare eligibility. These plans would have to meet rigorous standards and certification.

John McCain Believes in Personal Responsibility

* We must do more to take care of ourselves to prevent chronic diseases when possible, and do more to adhere to treatment after we are diagnosed with an illness.
* Childhood obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure are all on the rise. We must again teach our children about health, nutrition and exercise - vital life information.
* Public health initiatives must be undertaken with all our citizens to stem the growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and to deter smoking.

Mitt Romney

http://www.mittromney.com/Issues/healthcare



CHALLENGE: Health care costs are spiraling out of control. Tens of millions of Americans can't afford health insurance and millions more are worried about losing their coverage. Democrats believe that the solution to these problems is a one-size-fits-all, government-run, socialized health care system — a course that threatens medical progress and restricts free markets. They think that government can do a better job of choosing a doctor and making better health care decisions than individual Americans can. Reform of our health care system must address the twin problems of high costs and the uninsured while leaving in place the elements of our system that promote creativity, innovation, and consumer choice.

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "[W]e need to find a way to reduce the rate of growth of spending in health care in our country – it's now 17 percent of our GDP. When I was a consultant in the insurance industry, some years ago in the 1980s, it was 11 percent. The idea it would get to 17 percent was unthinkable. And it continues to move northward." (Governor Mitt Romney, Remarks At The Florida Medical Association, 8/24/07)

"The 45 million who don't have insurance – if they get sick they go to the emergency room for care. And that's not ideal care, as you know, it's not the preventative care they need, doesn't get them the prescription drugs to stave off an acute condition developing from a chronic condition.

And the cost of the health provided there at the emergency room is not paid for by them because they don't have insurance.Who's it paid for by? Well, by the people who do have insurance So not having insurance is not good for them, doesn't give them good quality health care – and it's not good for everybody else, because they're having to pay for it, through their taxes or their premiums. The problem of the uninsured is a problem for all Americans." (Governor Mitt Romney, Remarks At The Florida Medical Association, 8/24/07)



Use A Free Market, Federalist Approach To Make Quality, Affordable Health Insurance Available To Every American

Deregulate State Markets. Encourage states to eliminate the cumbersome insurance regulations that drive costs up and providers out of the market.

Fix The Tax Code. Level the playing field by making all health care expenses tax deductible, eliminating the special treatment afforded employer-provided health plans.

Stop The Free-Riders. Use some of the money currently spent on providing expensive "free care" for the uninsured at emergency rooms to instead help the truly needy buy private insurance.

Reform The Medical Liability System. Institute federal caps on non-economic and punitive damage awards to eliminate frivolous lawsuits and bring an end to the practice of defensive medicine.

Promote Innovation In Medicaid. Give states flexibility to spend their Medicaid dollars in whatever way they find most efficient and effective.

Bring Health Care Into The 21st Century. Improve quality and enhance transparency by introducing the same competitive forces that drive innovation in other sectors of the economy.

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "My plan would allow people to purchase private insurance, not government insurance. No government-managed health care and no increase in taxes." (Tim Rohwer, "Romney Visits Bluffs," Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil, 3/23/07)

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "But we say let's rely on personal responsibility. Help people buy their own private insurance. Get our citizens insured, not with a government takeover, not with new taxes needed, but instead with a free marketbased system that gets all of our citizens in the system. No more free rides." (ABC, Republican Presidential Debate, Des Moines, IA, 8/5/07)

GOVERNOR ROMNEY: "Conservative principles have the answers for health care. I think I'm going to be able to demonstrate to you today the conservative principles of personal responsibility and free market dynamics and choice and personal care – these kinds of elements allow us to reform health care in such a way that we can solve the problems that America faces in health care without having a government takeover, without having socialized medicine with all its drawbacks and all its weaknesses." (Governor Mitt Romney, Remarks At The Florida Medical Association, 8/24/07)

damn I forgot Huckabee and Paul :duh...(do they matter anymore?)

I dunno, but I saw Guilani on the debates saying that America has the best Health Care system in the world, and if we "socialize it, then where will Canadians go to get health care"???

Anybody care to explain to me what he is talking about/what planet he is living on??

whatever. The idea that the free market can solve this problem is ridiculous. Insurance companies are businesses. They want to make money. I don't want someone thinking about how much it costs to treat me when I am sick. PERSONALLY.

Also, the comments about medicaid frighten me. Medicaid is for people who seriously have no extra income. They can't have "personal responsibility" for their healthcare if they don't have money. In some states the income required to be on medicaid is less than $6,000k PER YEAR. If you are making that little you can't be expected to pay $500-900 per month for insurance. You couldn't even afford $100.

For goodness sakes. People in PRISON get full health and dental care! How a law abiding individual doesn't deserve the same privilege is BEYOND ME.

who cares...he dropped out last week. :shrug

I didn't like the guy anyway.

I dunno, but I saw Guilani on the debates saying that America has the best Health Care system in the world, and if we "socialize it, then where will Canadians go to get health care"???

Anybody care to explain to me what he is talking about/what planet he is living on??

Wow, um, it's actually quite the opposite! Americans go to Canada to get healthcare! My grandparents take trips across the border to get their prescriptions filled. If they got them filled in the states, they'd be pay hundreds of dollars more a month. It's sad really that senior citizens need to go to another country just to be able to get affordable medicine.

Oh and all those jerks also get free healthcare from the government. Gaw it makes me so ANGRY that politicians who seriously HAVE the money to pay these exorbitant rates get it for free and then have the nerve to tell other people that getting it for free is somehow un-American. If its so bad then why does congress vote to give it to THEMSELVES? LOL.

Wow, um, it's actually quite the opposite! Americans go to Canada to get healthcare! My grandparents take trips across the border to get their prescriptions filled. If they got them filled in the states, they'd be pay hundreds of dollars more a month. It's sad really that senior citizens need to go to another country just to be able to get affordable medicine.

I know! I was stunned at how ridiculous his argument was! That was about when I had to change the channel cause I started yelling at the television set. :hehe

Bush must not care too much, his new budget drastically cuts medicare.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0108/Bush_budget_will_propose_nearly_200_billion_in_Medicare_cuts_.html

That's horrible!

Ron Paul's view from his website:

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/health-care/

”

The federal government decided long ago that it knew how to manage your health care better than you and replaced personal responsibility and accountability with a system that puts corporate interests first. Our free market health care system that was once the envy of the world became a federally-managed disaster.

Few people realize that Congress forced Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) on us. HMOs rose to prominence through federal legislation, incentives, and coercion.

Now, the Food and Drug Administration's bias toward large pharmaceutical companies enlarges their power, limits treatment options, and drives consumers to seek Canadian medicines. Regulations from D.C. make it virtually impossible for small business owners to cover their employees. The unemployed often cannot afford insurance, meaning those who need basic medical attention overcrowd emergency rooms and drive up premiums.

The federal government will not suddenly become efficient managers if universal health care is instituted. Government health care only means long waiting periods, lack of choice, poor quality, and frustration. Many Canadians, fed up with socialized medicine, come to the U.S. in order to obtain care. Socialized medicine will not magically work here.

Health care should not be left up to HMOs, big drug companies, and government bureaucrats.

It is time to take back our health care. This is why I support:

* Making all medical expenses tax deductible.
* Eliminating federal regulations that discourage small businesses from providing coverage.
* Giving doctors the freedom to collectively negotiate with insurance companies and drive down the cost of medical care.
* Making every American eligible for a Health Savings Account (HSA), and removing the requirement that individuals must obtain a high-deductible insurance policy before opening an HSA.
* Reform licensure requirements so that pharmacists and nurses can perform some basic functions to increase access to care and lower costs.

By removing federal regulations, encouraging competition, and presenting real choices, we can make our health care system the envy of the world once again.

Thanks for the info ladies. I really appreciate it. :tu

That really solidified my stance... I am voting Democrat. :D

I dunno, but I saw Guilani on the debates saying that America has the best Health Care system in the world, and if we "socialize it, then where will Canadians go to get health care"???

Anybody care to explain to me what he is talking about/what planet he is living on??

Dunno, but I want to live there;)

Dunno, but I want to live there;)

:rofl TAKE ME WITH YOU! :P