Here's the simple path to healthcare reform, presented by a Roman Catholic

Healthcare reform is not dead. In fact, the opinion that healthcare will not be reformed from Obamacare is naĂŻve, nearsighted, and ridiculous. There is a road ahead.

Yes! There is a way forward.

Highlights

By David Drudge (CALIFORNIA NETWORK)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
3/31/2017 (7 years ago)

Published in Politics & Policy

Keywords: healthcare, reform, Obamacare, Trumpcare, Newt Gingrich

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- There is a set of principles for reform that must be understood.

1.    We must convince the American people that healthcare reform is in their best interest. With Obamacare, this should not be hard to do. Rising premiums, free healthcare for people who won't work, and expensive medications are all things most Americans hate about Obamacare.

2.    We have to focus on health, not money. People want to live longer, healthier lives. They want better care at lower cost. They hate nursing homes. They want our approach to disease to change. Unfortunately, we have a system that is obsessed with money, but not value. A solution that focuses on value for patients will be more popular than one that focuses on returns for investors.

3.    Healthcare is twenty percent of our economy. It is more complex than national security. We have to embrace this complexity, acknowledge it, and recognize that healthcare is subdivided by geography, employment, whether a person is a veteran or a Native American, elderly, or a child, and so on. A one-size-fits-all solution simply won't work. We need input from every sector of the public to prepare local, practical solutions.

4.    We have to make the new system comprehensible to people. We have to educate people on how the system works at the national level and how it works on the individual level. It cannot be so complex that teams of lawyers are required to understand it like Obamacare. The website needs to work on day 1.

5.    We must take a disciplined approach to reforming the system. The system must be science-based, but recognize that we are dealing with human life, which has inestimable value. It should be compassionate and charitable. Nobody should become rich off the illness of others, particularly if they do nothing to provide value for patients. We must encourage competition between private providers to keep prices low and value high.

6.    A properly developed, market-based system that emphasizes charity and the value of human life in all areas, yet allows reasonable profit and encourages development to keep healthcare on the cutting edge is key. This is both possible and reasonable. And with such a program, we can make healthcare accessible to all who wish or need to access it. We can develop a system that respects the rights of people and their religious beliefs.

These ideas are paraphrased from those proposed by Newt Gingrich in his weekly newsletter. We are fortunate to have reasonable, rational voices speaking out about the continued need for healthcare reform. We can look to leaders like Gingrich to see better, more carefully considered reforms.

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The future of healthcare is not as bleak as it was during the dark years of the Obama administration. Trumpcare may have failed, but the effort to repeal and replace Obamacare hasn't ended. Now that the initial rush to action is over, those who are serious about reform can go to work without the pressure of time. Be patient if you can, good things are coming.

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