Health care reform may not be as hot of a topic during the 2000 Election as it was during the 1992 Election, but it is still a relevant issue that all of the candidates will have to take a stand on. Clinton thought he was giving the people what they wanted with his version of socialized medicine, but then came the backlash of such programs, with reports filtering in from Canada and England about inferior medical care, overcrowded hospitals, and potentially lethal waiting lists. Just like with the tax code, the current health care system is so laden with governmental regulation that it sets itself up to be a victim of fraud. Recently, reports have surfaced regarding abuse of Medicare by patients, providers, and third party billers. The Libertarian plan, called Project Healthy Choice, would include medical savings accounts, as well as other measures to remove health care services from governmental control, which Libertarians believe would reduce health care costs while making such services more accessible.
As one might expect, the Libertarians are in favor of establishing a free-market system for health care services. They believe by creating tax-exempt medical savings accounts, the consumer would gain choice and increase their responsbility for their own health care, because they would get to keep any money left over, albeit with a considerable tax penalty. But MSA's would be penalty free for withdrawals made for health care related expenses. The goal of the MSA is to allow all employees to save money for health care tax free. Currently, those that are able to participate in an employer's plan do not pay taxes on income set aside for that plan, while those that purchase health insurance on their own must pay taxes on it. There have been criticisms of the MSA, which are effective currently for small business owners and the self-employed. Some believe that money siphoned off into MSA's would hurt the sick, but one of the requirements to open an MSA is to prove that one is a participant in a catastrophic insurance policy, the same pool that the chronicaly ill insured come from.
The next step under the Libertarian plan would be to make all health care related expenses 100% tax deductible. This would be implemented in order to obtain more of a balance in the three most common ways consumers obtain health insurance: through their employer's plan, through a private insurance company, or out of pocket. With the rise of the self-employed and small business owner, this would make health care expenses more on an even playing field compared to those in a more traditional employment situation. One of the main criticisms of the Clinton plan came from small business owners who said there was no way they would be able to provide health insurance for all of their employees, forcing them to either layoff workers or to go bankrupt.
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