some conservative approaches to health care

After having many conversations about health care in the recent past, I seem to continually run into the same, baseless argument over and over again in defence of the socialised systems being proposed today. Generally the argument sounds like this, "I know the current proposals have some flaws, but at least the Democrats are trying. What have the Republicans done other than 'just say no'?"

Now the first issue I take with this question in simple. While buying a new car is indeed one way to fix a flat tire, it is not really the most economical or intelligent way of operating, and that is what the current plans (including what I have seen of the Baucus bill) are proposing. The fact of the matter is that we as Americans enjoy the worlds longest survival rates for most of the common types of cancer among many other terminal illnesses, and the ideas being debated today would put that at risk so that less than 10% of our population can have an option other than the emergency room!

Next off, lets talk about why we don't hear any ideas coming from the conservative camp. We currently have large Democrat majorities in both the house and senate. Period. The majority position has the ability to control the dialogue in congress, in terms of which bills get brought forward for discussion and, ultimately, the vote.

Lastly, I would like to touch on a couple of the ideas I have heard, so that any of you who are truly interested in free market solution can see that some interesting possibilities exist.

1-REMOVE LEGISLATION THAT PROHIBITS INTER-STATE COMPETITION.
The first idea that out there is also my favorite. During a recent speech before a joint session of congress, President Obama spoke of how wrong it was for one or two insurance companies to be able to monopolize an entire state. This practice stifles competition, and allows the companies to raise rates with absolute certainty that no other company will come in and take away their business. Mr Obama was right. The issue here, is what our Dear Leader did not say. He did not say that it is Government regulation that outlaws competition between insurance companies from different states. Let me make that more clear. THE GOVERNMENT OUTLAWS COMPETITION IN THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY. Removal of this legislation would be relatively inexpensive, require no intrusion on the lives of the citizens, and foster the spirit of competition that has the folks in the auto insurance industry practically fighting each other for your business.

2-TORT REFORM
In every industry, liability insurance is a big expense that is considered part of the cost of doing business. This expense is added into things like rent, utilities and salaries to make up what is known as overhead. This overhead is then divided up by the hours of anticipated work for a given period of time, and the result is an amount, sometimes called a margin, that makes up a portion of the bill which is presented to the customer.

Do to the general litigiousness of our society, these insurance costs are disproportionate in the medical Field. Allowing the government to institute some protections for the medical industry against frivolous lawsuits would help to lower insurance premiums, and therefore, the bills that eventually end up in the hands of the consumer.

3-GIVE INDIVIDUALS THE SAME TAX BENEFITS FOR PURCHASING INSURANCE AS BUSINESSES GET
To date, I have still not heard a single reasonable answer to my question of why we as individuals cannot purchase our own insurance, and utilize the same tax write-offs as businesses do. While this option would not apply to everyone, it would ABSOLUTELY benefit the young and healthy who are generally in need of little more than catastrophic coverage. By covering just one individual or even a family, the insurance company has the ability to gauge the risk of that customer and adjust it's prices accordingly, without needing to consider the overweight or sickly that would otherwise be part of any larger group plan.