Jane M. Orient, M.D.
_______________________________________________________
This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court could, in King v. Burwell, uninsure 8 million Americans by finding that subsidies are illegal outside State Exchanges.
Some Republicans are saying “Let it burn.” For Democrats, it’s “ObamaCare or nothing.” Can you detect a difference? How about an American, rather than a partisan response? One that is voluntary and constitutional.
Amid the wreckage left by ObamaCare, one arrangement remains standing, exempt from the individual mandate: the healthcare sharing ministry.
This offers the prospect of a solution to the real problems:
• Medical care costs too much, and so does medical insurance.
• The reason medical care costs so much is third-party payment (“comprehensive insurance”).
• ObamaCare drives costs up still more with its expensive mandates.
Instead of forcing taxpayers, present and unborn, to pay most of the unaffordable premiums, the sharing ministries can drastically reduce costs, while restoring patient control.
The fact is that Americans throw fistfuls of money out the window every month for insurance premiums for care they do not need or want. That money is gone forever. If they develop a problem, the insurer might deny them the care that is best—or, if their policy has lapsed, they might as well have been uninsured the whole time. If they had instead put the money in the bank, they would have it to spend when the need arose. More
The PPJ Gazette 