The U.S. Senate on July 25 voted down a partial repeal of Obamacare, then an attempt at a “skinny repeal” failed in the early hours of July 28. Even though the American people voted into office many politicians who promised a full and complete repeal, many of those same lawmakers, perhaps for political reasons, are […]
The U.S. Senate on July 25 voted down a partial repeal of Obamacare, then an attempt at a “skinny repeal” failed in the early hours of July 28.
Even though the American people voted into office many politicians who promised a full and complete repeal, many of those same lawmakers, perhaps for political reasons, are too afraid of what real repeal would mean.
Only a full repeal will restore freedoms that the Affordable Care Act snatched from the American people.
Government health care is about force. Americans are forced under the thumb of thousands of pages of regulations, compelled to pay taxes and penalties, forced into narrow networks, and required to share their private and personal medical information with numerous entities. An Obamacare repeal wouldn’t come with more problems, as many claim, but instead would pave the way back to freedom — back to real and affordable solutions.
Among those solutions, are:
1. Catastrophic coverage
2. Self-pay / third party-free payment
3. Health-care sharing
4. Charity
First, a full repeal of Obamacare would give way to the return of catastrophic coverage, which is what insurance is meant to be: affordable financial protection against insurable conditions, not payment for routine and minor care.
Second, “cash-pay,” “self-pay” or “third party-free” practices allow patients and doctors to be free from the costly and intrusive shackles of insurance, regulations and government programs. The Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF) aims to restore health freedom, for both patients and doctors, through the innovative initiative “The Wedge of Health Freedom” (www.JointheWedge.com). Today, more than 200 medical practices in 44 states around the country have joined The Wedge, which is using third-party-free direct payment to transform the entire health-care system back to freedom and restore simplicity, affordability, and confidentiality.
Third, with repeal, some patients would be free to make health-care decisions without interference in a supportive community through health-care sharing ministries, the four largest of which are: Christian Healthcare Ministries, Liberty HealthShare, Medi-Share, and Samaritan Ministries.
CCHF issued a report in January 2010 on health-care sharing before the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Because health-care sharing members are exempt from ACA mandates, the membership of these groups has climbed steadily each year. Health-care sharing can be a wonderful way to avoid enrolling in costly and intrusive Obamacare coverage. And the stories of those impacted by health-care sharing are uplifting — much different than the horror stories of government health care.
And fourth, being free from government health care would allow doctors to engage in charity again, as they were free to do years ago when health care was truly about care rather than coverage.
Twila Brase, RN, is president and co-founder of CCHF (www.cchfreedom.org), which says it is a nonprofit, patient-centered, national health-freedom organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota that exists to protect health-care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights. This opinion piece is drawn from a news release that CCHF issued on July 31.