Health insurance keeps getting more expensive.  But what can be done?

First, we need to abandon the employer provided health insurance model and give the responsibility and control back to the consumer.  The consumer has to care about what they are buying and have a range of options from which to choose in order to create an open market.  A free market economy in healthcare will drive down the cost and promote innovation.

For Americans to have control over their spending, we need to have our own individual health plans like we do with car insurance and home insurance.  The employer should pay the employees to do a job and the employees should use that money to purchase their food, homes, automobiles, utilities, car insurance, home insurance, AND health insurance.  It’s that simple. The employer based health model in our country puts a huge strain on corporations and takes control away from the consumers who are ultimately paying for it.  It removes the transparency and incentives needed to create a free market.

Next, health insurance should only be used for those expensive things that would otherwise break the bank for the insurance holder.  That is what insurance is for – rare catastrophic events.  Currently, every inexpensive prescription and doctor visit is run through the insurance company.  This adds a bloated, inefficient middle man that drives up the cost and shifts control away from the consumer.  We need a new insurance model that excludes medical expenses below a threshold.  We should only file an insurance claim if a tree falls across our living room, our car is crashed, or we need surgery or expensive treatment.  A new garbage disposal for our home, new brakes on our cars, basic medicines, and simple doctor visits should be our financial responsibility and not run through the insurance machine which only adds cost and complexity.

What are your thoughts?