Greg Sowards
In seven steps, America can be on a healthy path to prosperity. Repealing Obamacare is the first step to recovery.
Every year, one out of six dollars generated in the U.S. economy – $2.5 Trillion – is spent on medical care. The high cost of quality care is the root cause of America’s 21st Century health crisis.
Fraud, a broken medical malpractice system and illegal immigration accelerate runaway health-care costs. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, is incompatible with consumer choice and free markets.
The American people are calling out for leaders who can provide solutions that alleviate high costs and deliver accessible health care. Americans do not want a bureaucrat from Washington standing between their family and their doctor.
When I am elected as the next U.S. senator from New Mexico, I will work to restore a healthy America with a seven-step plan:
- Repeal Obamacare
- End fraud
- Cut waste
- Save Medicare
- Empower states
- Reward responsibility
- Defend doctors
Step 1 – Repealing Obamacare will remove a new layer of taxes, regulation and bureaucracy that America simply cannot afford. The law is unconstitutional, subsidizes waste, cuts Medicare, leads to massive uncertainty for job creators and will destroy the private medical profession.
Step 2 – Every year, over $200 billion is lost to fraud and abuse. Ending fraud by transitioning from a paper system to an electronic system is a powerful way to save Americans 10 percent across the board on medical costs.
Key to this process would be a requirement for all health-care providers to accurately document cases of free care given to illegal immigrants and report the nationality of each patient to both federal and state governments. The United States could then seek recourse on behalf of states by amending its aid and trade packages with other nations to recover the over $100 billion in health care that is provided to illegal immigrants annually.
Step 3 – Restoring a healthy America will require positioning the federal government to be an effective partner with states by cutting waste. The best way to build a strong America now is for incoming U.S. senators to craft legislation that will compliment the bills of representatives like Thomas Latham of Iowa, whose LESS Government Act moves to implement waste reduction across all federal programs.
I am a pro-Lean Six Sigma candidate because it is a tried and tested, proven method of cutting waste and redundancy. It has been recognized by virtually every Republican presidential candidate as a program that can lower the cost of non-discretionary federal spending by 25 percent and put an end to the deficit. By 2018, America can and should be deficit-free.
Step 4 – Saving Medicare is vital to a healthy America. 30 percent to 40 percent of all health-care costs can be labeled waste. The American people can save 20 percent on the cost of their medical care every year and simultaneously increase the quality of the care they receive by fundamentally reinventing the Medicare reimbursement formula.
By rewarding hospitals and care providers that implement effective waste-reduction programs, extending optional health savings accounts to every American, and providing targeted voucher assistance to America’s neediest seniors, Medicare can be saved.
Step 5 – The successful implementation of cost-cutting measures will make access to health care a problem that is manageable at the state level. A federal government that is not strapped with a massive deficit can effectively partner with and empower states to utilize block-grant programs that will create affordable assistance to low-income patients and high-risk pools that offer access to quality care for those who are too ill to work. Establishing the proper balance between federal and state government is essential to the restoration of a healthy America.
Step 6 – Hard-working Americans who purchase health insurance should be rewarded for their responsible behavior. Individuals should qualify for tax deductions on health premiums that are comparable to the employer subsidies claimed by corporations.
Individuals should also be allowed to purchase insurance across state lines to increase competition and lower prices. Rewarding responsibility in this manner will spur job growth, since 70 percent of small businesses file taxes as individuals.
Step 7 – Ending frivolous lawsuits by reforming the broken medical-malpractice system is a necessary step in my plan to restore a healthy America. Defending doctors from junk lawsuits is a pivotal step in salvaging the private medical profession.
The practice of defensive medicine leads to higher rates of redundancy and waste, which increase health care costs. Instituting medical liability reform on the national stage is an idea whose time is now.
In seven steps, America can be on a healthy path to prosperity. Repealing Obamacare is the first step to recovery. By following my plan to restore a healthy America, we can place control of our nation’s destiny back into the hands of individuals and stop the downhill slide to socialized medicine.
Sowards is a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.