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In lieu of being labeled a complainer without any alternative ideas, here is my common-sense alternative to ObamaCare…

First, let’s completely throw out the idea of “free” healthcare. It doesn’t exist.

What we have right now is a system where people take out insurance and then use it every time they get the sniffles. Such a system is doomed to massive expense, corruption, deception, kickbacks, manipulation, inflation, etc.  And people that don’t have insurance get treated for emergency care, but for little else. Come down with a serious illness or have an accident and you might as well be living in a Third World country for all the good it will do you being an American.

Insurance was once a policy designed to be used in case something truly devastating happened – a horrible car accident, an injury that prevented someone from working, the contraction of a protracted illness or terminal illness. This is now known as catastrophic insurance.

Why not design a public system to act as a catastrophic safety net? People would meet their own general expenses, either by out-of-pocket money or by buying their own private insurance plans which met their individual needs. The government system would kick in only in the event that something truly devastating occurred. This common-sense approach would make sure that no one fell into poverty or lost their home because of an illness or accident, but it would also cut out virtually all the unnecessary waste and manipulation that goes on now.

Catastrophic provisions in most standard health insurance policies often max. out people’s insurance plans, effectively throwing them into financial ruin.  With the government backing these plans, no one would find themselves out on the street. Special provisions of such a bill could also substantially reduce costs by a wide margin (much like Medicare).

Certainly, in a country as wealthy as the U.S. we could have a general safety net for all Americans. The question arises, however, as to why we feel we need a government handout for every conceivable health-related issue? This serves only to drive up the expense of the service and for patients and doctors to overuse the handout.

And still more could be done…

• How about offering tax incentives for people to get gym memberships and undergo Stop Smoking & weight-loss programs?
• How about allowing the deduction of vitamin and herb supplements?
• How about state income tax deductions for buying locally-grown organic foods…and exemptions for farmers offering such foods?

Encouraging preventative health options seems like a no-brainer in our era of inflated healthcare costs and chronic illness.

This isn’t rocket science, folks. What the government is parading before us is nothing more than a massive new entitlement program that no one really knows how to pay for in the long term. And not one single aspect of the bills before congress in any way encourages healthy eating or lifestyle changes that could prevent innumerable chronic illnesses.

Mark my words: The initial cost estimate of $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years is merely the tip of the iceberg.

For an expansion of this post, see Alternatives to ObamaCare Revisited.