Last month, as I stood at the DMV for my annual car registration, the inefficiencies of government bureaucracy were on full display. I was not the only one who was frustrated. The dozens of other people in line seemed equally confused with the multiple fees and endless paperwork. Then, I imagined standing in a similar line with one of my sick children to visit a pediatrician.
This is the kind of government waste and frustration President Obama is proposing with his health care plan.
President Obama proposed a $1.6 trillion health care system overhaul that would increase health care costs while reducing health care choice and quality. That means each of us will be paying over $7,200 a year to the government to choose the doctors we can see and treatment we receive. For a majority of us, it will be more expensive and less effective than the private insurance we already have.
President Obama has championed several misconceptions while selling his plan to reform our nation’s health care system. Despite his claims, his plan will not lower costs, allow choice in coverage or improve patient care.
Only a private health care system can guarantee these choices.
The tangled web of government bureaus and handlers proposed in Obamacare will impose primary care gatekeepers to dictate the specialists we can and cannot see. A five-year grace period is given for corporations to keep their current employee benefit system before they will forced into the government’s high-cost program. Community rates require all patients to pay the same rates regardless of age or medical condition.
This is not the change America needs.
Three innovative changes that can be made to the current health care system to increase accessibility and affordability for the people of Hawai‘i and America. By keeping the system private, putting patients first and carrying a reasonable price tag in the short and long-term, we can make significant improvements to the health care system over 80 percent of America is already satisfied with.
Privatization encourages competition and allows us to choose the coverage that is right for our families. Deciding who treats our family is a personal matter. It should not be dictated by any government entity or policy maker, especially one all the way in Washington, which is what President Obama has proposed.
Health care reform must put patients first. Our health cannot be dictated by ambulance-chasing lawyers anxious to make more money through medical malpractice lawsuits. Since 1975, we’ve seen our premiums rise 12 percent a year simply to pay for multi-million-dollar malpractice lawsuits. By implementing major tort reform, we can control unnecessary and unsafe medical practices that are performed merely to avoid a lawsuit and have no medical benefit to the patient.
Finally, a reformed health care system must have a reasonable price tag. The current system is too costly and complicated and the massive overhaul being proposed by President Obama is even worse. With a price tag of nearly $1.6 trillion, it is even more inefficient and is sure to lead to another bureaucratic mess and increased taxes.
The answers to health care reform are not the radical solutions proposed by President Obama. They are sensible solutions that preserve health care quality, lower costs, expand access and give families the freedom to choose the health care that fits their needs while avoiding the long lines and headaches that accompany government bureaucracy.
• Jonah-Kuhio Ka‘auwai is the chair of the Hawai‘i Republican Party.
