During the New Hampshire presidential debate last week, a lady named Sylvia asked, "What would the Republicans do about health care if they repealed Obamacare?" Her question was never answered. I even pointed that fact out to the CNN host, John King, and offered to answer her question. But he never got back to me.
If I could have answered the question, I would have told her about patient-centered and market-driven solutions. Most of these ideas are contained in H.R. 3400, which was introduced in 2009, but virtually nobody heard about it.
I don't believe in reinventing the wheel. Nor do I believe in reinventing good ideas. If I could have answered her question, I would have offered some of the following ideas as a replacement to Obamacare:
- individuals may choose health insurance (no mandates),
- deductibility of health-insurance premiums, regardless of who pays,
- employers to provide flexible insurance options to employees,
- health-insurance coverage for low-income individuals (three times poverty level),
- health insurance for high-risk and pre-existing conditions for individuals,
- sale of health insurance across state lines (more competition!),
- increased deductibility amounts for health savings accounts,
- association health insurance plans,
- frivolous medical lawsuit loser-pay laws
These ideas would allow individuals to make their own decisions about health care and health insurance, rather than a bureaucrat making those decisions for them. They would allow the free-market system to bring down the costs of both. Obamacare does not do that, which is why more than 1,300 companies have requested and received waivers against implementing Obamacare.
It may shock the liberals out there in La-la land, but if Obamacare would have saved those businesses money, they would have implemented it in a heartbeat. It won't!
Answering Sylvia's question probably would have answered the same question millions of Americans are asking, but I couldn't squeeze the response in during the presidential sound-bite derby.
The health-care question wasn't the only question that didn't receive an answer during the presidential debate that night, because the format for questions and answers left a lot to be desired. Nevertheless, I will be right back in there slugging it out at the next debate.
Next time, I hope we get a genuine chance to express our respective points of view on the big issues. That way, viewers will be able to learn something and discover the differences that distinguish one candidate from another.
John King's last question to all of us was a good one, and it was unexpected: "What did you learn during the debate tonight?"
I learned that the field of candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president is not a weak field, as some people have tried to convince the public.
When six of the seven candidates on the stage that night currently hold, or have held, a major public office along with one problem-solving businessman, most people do not consider that a weak field. With six of the participants having held the position of speaker, senator, governor or representative, that's not a weak field. I was just happy to be there as Mr. Cain.
Maybe that's why I wanted to answer the questions.