Doctor Ron Paul's look at health care

Subject: Ron Paul's health care bill

• Would you like a refund on your taxes for every dollar you spend on health care, including your insurance premiums?
• Would you like to pay less for health insurance, while having more and more money to fund your own health care?
• Would you like to see health care expenses go down, while quality improves?
• Congressman Ron Paul has a bill that would accomplish all of this: the "Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act" (H.R. 3343). Please urge Congress to pass this bill.

Why we need Congressman Paul's bill . . .

The federal government owes $53.3 trillion in unfunded liabilities for Medicare and Social Security. Instead of figuring out how to fund these commitments, the politicians keep promising more spending, especially on health care.

It's important to understand that government health care spending is the real cause of America's health care crisis. Government already pays for nearly half of all medical care in this country. This makes government the primary determiner of health care prices . . .

• Bureaucrats decide what the government will pay for any given procedure
• Lobbyists influence the prices the bureaucrats set
• Insurance companies then follow the government's lead in terms of what they will pay

Health care costs are soaring because the prices are set by bureaucrats and lobbyists, instead of by free market competition.

To better understand how damaging this is just look at what's happened to the cost and quality of Lasik eye surgery, which isn't funded by the government, or insurance . . .

According to the federal government's Bureau of Labor Statistics the price for Lasik surgery has dropped from $2,106 in 1999 to $1,626 in 2004! The quality has also improved dramatically, even though the cost has fallen.

The same could be true for all health care procedures if prices were set by free market competition, instead of by bureaucrats and lobbyists.

But the problem gets even worse. Government tax polices have created incentives that tie most people's health insurance policies to their employer. This means "your" insurance companies work for your boss, and not for you. Losing your job could mean a catastrophic loss of medical care.

America's health care crisis is entirely the creation of the politicians in Congress. And now they want to use the crisis they've created to grab still more power and money, at a time when the government is facing a looming bankruptcy.

Congressman Ron Paul has introduced a bill that would solve these problems, immediately. His "Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act" (H.R. 3343) would . . .

• Give you a 100% refund from your taxes of every dollar you spend on medical care, including insurance premiums.
• Make it easier for your employer to deposit the money it now gives to the health insurance companies into a Health Saving Account that would belong to you
• This money would come to you tax free -- you could use it to fund your health care and your insurance premiums
• This means your health insurance would belong to you, not your employer
• You would have the money to pay small medical expenses with your Health Savings Account, which would allow you to reduce your insurance premiums by buying a Major Medical Plan, instead of a Cadillac Plan
• You would also earn interest on the money in your Health Savings Account, tax free -- you would get this interest instead of the insurance companies getting it (collecting interest on premiums is how the insurance companies make their money -- these profits could be yours instead)
• Plus, you would become your doctor's customer, instead of the government or your insurance company being your doctor's customer
• This would place the consumer in charge, creating competition that would lower prices and improve quality

Of course, neither the insurance companies nor the health care lobbyists want these changes, so you will have to fight for them. Do three things . . .

• Ask Congress to pass Ron Paul's "Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act" (HR 3343)
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