GOPideas... ideas done right

The fundamental issues of health care will remain the same, regardless of what plan passes Congress, provided that the economic incentive structure of the health care system is not altered. Specifically, if an individual can seek nearly limitless treatment without bearing the cost of that treatment, then costs must escalate. The reason that costs must escalate is that neither party (patient or provider) has any incentive to weigh the costs and benefits of treatment and ever elect to not have a treatment due to cost. (If the patient never gets a bill and the provider gets paid for providing whatever the patient wants, then both sides get what they want, but then the insurance provider --- in this case the government and taxpayers --- pays the bills.)

The health care bills before Congress ignore this fundamental fact, which means they will cost more and provide similar outcomes. However, the Administration wants the public to believe that "efficiency" and "cost savings" will magically appear. Tennessee attempted a similar approach, and you can read how that turned out. Does anyone really believe that hospitals, drug companies and other health care providers will voluntarily forego revenue to "help" pay for health care costs? The government's cost savings of tomorrow is an organization's revenue stream of today.

However, let's give the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats the benefit of the doubt. Maybe pixie dust will materialize and profit-seeking entities will be mesmerized by Obama's words and intentions and then voluntarily give away profits. Let's also assume that the same government that has allowed waste, fraud and abuse will find the wasteful and fraudulent spending for additional cost savings. Of course, this also assumes that companies with significant health insurance liabilities will not dump high cost enrollees on the public plan, since everyone will be able to keep their plan.

As Republicans, let's assume all this will happen. We're completely wrong about fearing a cost explosion, private plans dumping enrollees or rationing care. However, let us also follow Ronald Reagan's words: "Trust but verify."

Republicans should unite behind an amendment to the health care plan that states: "The plan's financial condition, measured by the premiums charged individuals less reimbursements paid, shall never go into deficit. If the plan achieves an annual deficit, the program is automatically terminated in the next fiscal year. From that day forward, any legislation that would require the federal government to allocate resources to any provider of health care services must pass both Houses of Congress by a two-thirds majority."

The above amendment would ensure that if the Democrats were wrong about health care, the public would not be affected by higher tax rates or deficits. Furthermore, it would ensure that any future attempt of handing out taxpayer money would require a supermajority, meaning that fiscal restraint would be a hallmark of any future program. Most importantly, it would avoid the potential to stuff the beast: hooking the public on benefits they want while pushing the bill on future generations.