“Perverse” That Jobless Lose......

Ron Paul: “Perverse” That Jobless Lose Both Paychecks and Health Insurance

By Rocky Vega

06/14/10 Stockholm, Sweden – In his most recent weekly column, Dr. Ron Paul (R-TX) describes how there’s still a chance to squelch some of the worst parts of Obamacare. Specifically, his least favorite is “the mandate that forces every American either to purchase health insurance or face an IRS penalty.”

Here’s what Ron Paul recommends instead, in his Texas Straight Talk column:

“Instead of mandating the same failed entitlement healthcare schemes that are bankrupting Europe, Congress should fundamentally re-examine the case for free-market healthcare. Our current model, based on employer-provided health insurance, did not arise based on market preferences. On the contrary, it makes no sense to couple health insurance with employment.

“But federal wage and price controls instituted during World War II left employers with no alternative to attract workers in a tight labor market other than offering extra benefits such as health insurance and pensions. Over time these nonwage benefits became the norm, especially since employers could deduct the cost of health insurance premiums from their income taxes while individuals could not. The perverse consequence is that employees lose both their paychecks and their health insurance when they lose their job…

“…In a market system patients likely would pay cash for basic services, while maintaining relatively high-deductible catastrophic insurance for serious illnesses and accidents. The cost of most routine medical care would drop if the patient paid the bill on the spot, especially if doctors no longer needed to employ large staffs solely to deal with insurance and billing.”

Dr. Paul envisions medical coverage where patients pay for their most basic services and gain an appreciation for its value. Medical providers, for their part, can begin to learn and understand what constitutes a reasonable cost. He’s once again sounding the alarm about a broken, government-spawned system, and you can read the details of his suggestions in Ron Paul’s Texas Straight Talk column on how authoritarianism is bad for your health.