How to make healthcare more affordable without growing the government

Affordable healthcare is a huge issue for many people, and many people believe the solution is to grow the government bigger despite the fact that government is the main factor as to why healthcare is as expensive as it is today. Nevertheless, there are solutions to lower the cost of healthcare that would not involve growing the government.

Improve education around health

I think, like with many issues plaguing our society today, bad education policy can be blamed as a root cause to high healthcare prices. Leading a healthy life is not a prime focus for government schools despite what government school activists may say. Lobbyists have been buddy-buddy with the government for so long that the government has completely misinformed generations of students on what a healthy diet is supposed to look like. On top of this, physical education (PE) is extremely lacking for students and has done more harm than good for many people. This is because PE has given so many people bad experiences in their younger years that they just don’t bother to exercise as adults. If proper health classes were taught and serious reform around PE classes was made a priority, we may see future generations growing up to lead healthier lives. With healthier people, demand for healthcare services would go down along with prices due to basic supply and demand.

Make Health Savings Accounts more accessible

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are not offered to many people as they are available exclusively to those with qualifying health plans. An HSA allows people to set aside money on a pre-tax basis in order to pay for qualified medical expenses. These are considered a tax-advantaged savings account that allow individuals to set aside pre-tax money to pay for things like deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and prescriptions. These plans can help lower costs for people in a number of ways. For one, though you may pay a higher deductible, you may also pay a lower premium. You can also save money with your HSA by using the tax-free money in it to pay for your healthcare needs. Furthermore, just like a regular savings account, the balance doesn’t change with the year, it rolls over so you can build up reserves to pay for healthcare services and items you may need later on.

Remove red tape for healthcare professionals

There are a number of things we could get into when we talk about red tape in the healthcare field. Everything from unnecessarily rigid regulations to complicated billing practices that have led to more administration. One of my biggest pet peeves, however, is the number of arbitrary hoops and the amount of money that is required just to get a license to practice in the healthcare industry. For example, if someone wants to be an RN in Kansas, they have to have official transcripts sent to the Kansas Board of Nursing and do a background check which can take up to a month to complete. There’s also a $50 fingerprint processing fee, and this doesn’t include being fingerprinted which costs an additional $7.50 to have done at the office of the Board of Nursing. You would also be required to register with Pearson, which administers the NCLEX—an exam that costs $200 to take. This is all on top of the fees for an approved RN program which already cost thousands of dollars. Red tape, like making it more difficult to enter a field, makes prices go up as it can restrict the number of people that can provide a service. Unnaturally lowering the supply without lowering the demand makes prices rise. Again, basic economics of supply and demand.

Conclusion

I hope that these ideas were helpful for those who are concerned about the skyrocketing price of healthcare, but also understand the danger of growing the government. I do understand the worry of our healthcare crisis as I’m in the same boat as many other Americans. Nevertheless, Medicaid Expansion is not the solution that expansion advocates want you to think it is. Americans for Prosperity (AFP) also have a page for Kansans where you can contact your officials and it provides a lot of interesting information regarding the dangers of growing the government through Medicaid Expansion and other ideas on how to lower healthcare costs.