LETTERS
Healthcare
Medicare legislation passed by Congress last week would continue to punish those who pay their own way and deceive those who think they can get away with forcing everyone else to pay for their healthcare expenses.
The wealthiest government employees or corporate executives who receive healthcare insurance as a part of their compensation package get this benefit on a tax-free basis.
Anyone who pays their own health insurance premiums or medical bills must struggle to wring these payments from income that is fully taxed. This practice transcends unfairness and lack of equity. It also inflates the cost of healthcare for everyone.
One thing the government most easily could do to bring the cost of healthcare within the reach of almost all Americans would be the expansion of unrestricted tax-free medical savings accounts. Such accounts can cover most or all of everyone’s routine medical expenses. In conjunction with high-deductible, low-premium insurance for medical emergencies and long-term care, these accounts make healthcare affordable.
(Very restricted medical savings accounts exist today, but the legislation creating them will expire at the end of 2003. Medicare reform legislation passed last week includes a tax deduction for payments to health savings account.)
Let there be no doubt about it. What the government pays for it also controls. A government that provides for all of your body’s healthcare needs ultimately will think and act as if it owns your body. Those who are uncomfortable with that idea need to demand the right to spend their own dollars,free of tax,to provide for their own lives and health.
Richard E. Ralston
Executive director
Americans for Free Choice in Medicine
Newport Beach
Between now and Election Day 2004, dueling healthcare proposals will grab the national spotlight as part of a battle cry for reform.
But away from that glare, much can be done right now to help ease the crisis and directly address the core issues of accessibility and affordability in healthcare. And it can be done without any federal mandate, new legislation or costly new programs.
First, employers should consider changing from a traditional defined-benefit approach to one of defined contribution. Under this emerging model, rather than selecting a single health plan that may or may not meet the health or budget needs of each employee, employers simply determine how much they wish to spend on health insurance for each worker. Employees are then provided these dollars as an allowance toward a wide range of coverage options.
At the same time, employers should make it easy for employees to secure meaningful health coverage and choose a health plan that’s right for them by providing access to a healthcare purchasing alliance. Such alliances include HMO and PPO options (even new consumer-directed products) offered and administered via an effective and efficient administrative platform.
John M. Word III
Managing partner
CaliforniaChoice
Orange
Fiscal Fitness
Like a couch potato, California’s fiscal lifestyle is grossly unhealthy. Luckily, body builder-turned Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is ready to use his expertise to trim California’s budget bloat. Arnold has put the state on notice, time to get pumped up and drop fiscal fat.
Like starting to exercise, California can start immediately with warm-ups and move on to longer workouts. There are a litany of boards and commissions that pay six-figure salaries for a weekend’s worth of work. These appointments, usually reserved for favored campaign supporters, need to be abolished. We also need to target waste in government.
Since California needs the equivalent of a personal trainer, Schwarzenegger wisely asked Donna Arduin, a top-notch fiscal sleuth, to be the director of finance after her audit of the state’s books is complete. She will be in a position to closely regulate what goes into California’s fiscal diet.
However, trimming the fat can only accomplish so much. Gov. Schwarzenegger’s most important goal is to bring employers back to California and to encourage the growth of small businesses. We need to jump-start what is usually the most dynamic economy in the country by putting an end to restrictive regulations and creating a more business friendly environment.
Many pundits are quick to warn of the obstacles that Schwarzenegger must overcome. These are indeed formidable, but our governor is, like so many other Californians, full of optimism and eager for a challenge. With a healthy diet of fiscal responsibility and a steady effort to firm up our business environment, California can return to its Golden shape.
Ken Maddox
(Maddox is the Republican Assemblyman from Costa Mesa)
