My vision for U.S. healthcare reform

Here is my vision for U.S. healthcare reform.

Get the companies and governments out of the picture.

Have companies drop healthcare plans and put the savings into their employees paychecks.

Everyone pays healthcare providers directly out of pocket for all routine expenses, analogous to the way we pay for oil changes and tires for our cars out of pocket, rather than having those items covered by our vehicle insurance policy.

The only health insurance most people would carry would be for unexpected major medical expenses. The cost for this type of coverage should be relatively low, since there would be relatively few claims.

The result of these reforms would be higher quality care and lower costs, since the mindset would be one of free-market competition among providers, competing directly for the consumers' dollars.

Addendum Thu, 30 Jul 2009, 9:16 am EDT

Congress should equalize the tax benefit so the individual gets the same tax break for buying his own healthcare and health insurance directly that his employer is getting now to buy it for him.

This would result in minimal or no financial incentive to accept whatever healthcare option is offered through the employer versus what the individual could purchase directly on the free market.

This would help to put natural, non-governmental, free-market regulation back into play, helping drive down healthcare costs and drive up quality as providers and insurers compete directly for the individual's healthcare dollar, and individuals are free to shop directly for the best value between competing suppliers.