Free market solutions to healthcare, but what will 'blue dogs' do?

The single most important thing to remember in the current debate about the nation's healthcare system is that free market solutions are available, and they work.  Barack Obama's contention that there are only 2 choices--his government takeover of healthcare, or doing nothing--is patently FALSE.

Other solutions, better solutions, are available and have never been tried on a national scale.

In fact, as a Senator, Barack Obama voted against every single free market solution to problems in healthcare that the GOP put forward.

The Democrats in Congress are currently embroiled in an inner-Party scuffle concerning the strong-arm tactics of proponents of socialized medicine, such as Henry Waxman, Nancy Pelosi, and of course, Barack Obama himself along with his Chicago mob henchman, Rahm 'Dead Fish' Emanuel.

This Washington gang is engaged in the tactics of threats and intimidation toward more conservative members of the Democratic Party, who urge a more cautious and cost-conscientious approach toward solving the problems in healthcare.

Today, Monday, the battle cranks up again.

On Friday the conservative 'blue dog' Dems stormed out of a meeting with Waxman, stating they had been 'lied to.'  Negotiations on how to proceed came to an abrupt end, with ruffled feathers and hard feelings.

The blue dogs claim they are trying to 'save their Party' from its decidedly liberal leadership.

However, one important fact needs to be kept in mind--the blue dogs are not proposing a serious free market solution to healthcare.  To them, the only point of contention is how far should the government go in its takeover, and how much should it cost.

But their proposals are still every bit as much government-centered as that of liberals Obama, Waxman, Reid, Kennedy, Pelosi, Boxer, Dodd, and others. 

For this reason it would be terribly misguided for conservatives to 'show support for the blue dogs.'

At this particular point the primary difference between the blue dogs and the liberals is just a matter of money--either just under a trillion bucks, or several trillion bucks of taxpayer money...not an acceptable choice for real conservatives.  Either way we are talking about real money and lots of it, from you and me.

The free market, however, is where the juice is.

Let's take a brief look at the basic free market model being proposed as an alternative to the Obama takeover of healthcare and the blue dog Dems' plan of a scaled back government takeover.

One, the government should immediately pass a tax incentive for citizens to purchase their own private health insurance through a line-item tax deduction for the entire cost of that insurance.  Being able to deduct the entire cost of one's health insurance plan from one's taxes is a good way to get millions covered who presently do not have insurance.

Two, allow citizens to purchase plans across state lines.  Whoever has the best plan that best suits the needs of an individual citizen or family should be able to compete for their business no matter where that business is located.  People in south Florida, for example, should be able to purchase a healthcare plan from a company in Alaska if that company offers a package that meets the needs of those particular persons.  The competition inherent in such a plan will drive down the costs.

Three, allow citizens, ALL citizens, to pool their resources in order to group-purchase low-cost plans as corporations are allowed to do for their employees.  Why should average citizens get a cost break only when they work for a company that provides such a thing?  ANY citizen should be able to join in with groups of other citizens who would comprise 'healthcare coops' or whatever designation they wish to be called, pool their resources, and then purchase group plans directly from insurance providers.

These 3 steps would immediately provide coverage for most of those who are presently not being served.  They would lower the costs to the insured, and they would allow the insured to deduct those costs from their final tax bill.

And all of this can be done without creating another massive government bureaucracy or mandating that all citizens get coverage whether they want it or not.  After all, most citizens will get coverage if they know the payoff will be a complete write-off of the bill on their tax form.

Thus, conservatives can safely oppose the efforts of both the blue dogs and their liberal colleagues on healthcare.  As the day unfolds today on the Hill, watch these proceedings very carefully.  The worse thing we can do is allow blue dog Dems to give us 'government takeover light' thinking that we are helping to derail socialized medicine.  ANY form of the present plan that has been submitted by Democrats is deserving of outright rejection.

For more information on these and other free market solutions to the healthcare problem, consult the Cato Institute's special section, as well as Cato's superb article entitled, 'Bad Reform is Worse than No Reform.'

For more commentary on other issues, visit my blog at The Liberty Sphere.