Conservative Principles Now

Throughout the debate over liberals’ health care proposals, it has become clear that  while Americans want health care reform, they reject the direction of the legislation that will be voted on in the House this weekend.  The current health care bill results in a government takeover of the health care system by imposing strict regulations on insurers, mandates on employers and individuals, and an expansion of costly and inefficient entitlements.  States and citizens alike are rebelling against the bill in a bipartisan manner.  State legislators reject the bill because it significantly reduces their authority over health insurance markets and flexibility in managing Medicaid. With only 47 percent believing that it is the federal government’s responsibility to ensure coverage, Americans are rightly alarmed by the intrusive nature of the legislation.

Former Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) recently worked with the Heritage Foundation to outline a solution that promotes individual freedom in health care markets:  interstate commerce contracts among states. Interstate commerce for health insurers would create robust competition, lowering costs for the citizens of the allied states.  It is a step towards reform that states can take without action from Washington.  As Rep. Feeney remarks:

The genius of the American federal system provides a natural set of diverse alternatives to centralized system of planning—which would force 300 million Americans into a collectivist straight jacket where all key decisions will ultimately be made in Washington.

Interstate commerce would go a long ways to better America’s health care system.  Interstate contracts are health insurance exchanges across states that create larger insurance markets and enhance competition among insurers.  By allowing citizens of other states to purchase cost-effective plans across state borders, they promote individual freedom to choose among competing plans that offer the best combination of cost and coverage levels.  Done correctly, interstate commerce will reduce bureaucracy, provide simplified one-stop shopping, allow people to get better and more varied health coverage. The nest step is for Congress to enable people to take their plans from job to job without losing the tax benefits of employer-based coverage.

It is important to note that states legislators are currently fully within their constitutional rights to make interstate compacts in the insurance markets.  The Constitution authorizes states to engage in multilateral agreements that support interstate commerce.  It reserves state powers for self governance, including the power to enter into agreement to facilitate interactions between citizens of one state and another.  So long that a state does not restrict commerce in other states, they are not restricted by the commerce clause.  Interstate compacts in health insurance markets expand options outside their jurisdiction.  In health insurance markets, states are the supreme authority.

Health care debate can serve as a catalyst for the rebirth of federalism, and no area is more advantageous for state reform than health care.  States governments and the American people have already voiced their complaints about the perils of the federal  health care legislation.  It is now time for state legislators to take the lead on health care reform.  The best way to do this is by entering into interstate compacts with other states that promote individual freedoms.

Rick Sherwood currently is a member of the Young Leaders Program at the Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please visit: http://www.heritage.org/About/Internships-Young-Leaders/The-Heritage-Foundation-Internship-Program

America stands on the precipice of sweeping liberal health care reform that will radically reshape one-sixth of the U.S. economy, and a 153-page House bill is all that stands between us and a fundamentally changed America.

What will that change look like? Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” and President Barack Obama said, “By the time the vote has taken place, not only will I know what’s in it, you’ll know what’s in it.”

In other words, here’s a ticket to ride, get on board, we can’t tell you where it’s going, but you’ll like it once you get there. We promise.

A picture of America’s future under Obamacare can be revealed, though, after peeling away the pages and digging through the dirt. Here’s 10 things you can expect:

1. A Massively Engorged Government, to the tune of $2.5 trillion in new entitlement spending. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), new entitlement spending in the plan would cost $216 billion by 2019, then increase by 8 percent every year thereafter.
2. A Cornhusker Kickback for All. No, special deals aren’t removed from Obamacare this time around. Instead, the House bill extends new federal funding for Medicaid to all states. Incidentally, you’re paying for it.
3. A Freight train of taxes, slamming the American people in 2018. You’ve heard of the “Cadillac” tax on high-cost insurance plans? It will be pushed back to 2018, and given the way “high-cost” plans will be defined, a large segment of the middle class would get hit with the tax over time.
4. Beware the shape-shifting tax monster. New taxes will take many forms, including taxes on prescription drugs, medical devices (like wheel chairs), and health insurance.
5. Unconstitutional mandates, courtesy of Congress. Don’t want to buy health insurance? Congress will penalize you if you don’t, regardless of income.
6. Lock your back door. Higher health care costs will be sneaking in. The plan gives subsidies to low-to-moderate wage families, but the subsidies will increase at a lower rate than the rate at which premiums increase. In other words, those families will pay more every year.
7. Lights out for small businesses? Companies that hire certain low-income Americans will have to pay $3,000 per employee, per year, even if the company offers insurance.Oh, and if a company employs 50 or more workers, they’ll face higher tax penalties to the tune of $2,000 per full-time employee.
   
8. Abortions. You will pay for them, like it or not. The House bill includes major funding for community health centers with no restrictions on federal taxpayer funding of abortions.
9. Want to play the stock market? Maybe not, after you hear this. The House bill slaps a 3.8% tax on investment income.
10. It’s not a federal system, after all. States will have less power. They’ll no longer have authority to regulate health care premiums. Instead, the federal government will take on the job. States and local governments won’t be able to control their own employee health plans; they’ll have to abide by new federal regulations.