How to pay for healthcare without a government program

Conservatives should take the same approach to healthcare as they have for social security, the American Conservative says.
The party’s annual tax plan, which is due to be released Thursday, is a blueprint for what to do about health care without a federal entitlement.
But the tax plan’s emphasis on personal income taxes and a reduction in corporate taxes are at odds with the conservative agenda on healthcare.
“I think the way to fix healthcare is to abolish Social Security and Medicare, and that means you have to replace the entire entitlement with a new one,” said Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., the bill’s co-author.
“There’s no way to get a new entitlement without a tax increase.”
Huelskamp also called for eliminating the federal government’s subsidies for private health insurance plans, which help pay for many of the subsidies.
He said the plan is “not conservative enough” to eliminate the subsidy and also proposed eliminating the subsidies that are set to expire in 2019.
In addition, he said, the bill “will be a huge giveaway to Wall Street and the drug companies.”
The bill would end the Medicare prescription drug benefit, which would make it easier for seniors to afford health care through the private insurance system.
It would also eliminate the tax credit that provides seniors with financial help paying for health insurance premiums.
Other changes in the tax bill include a repeal of the individual mandate, which requires people to have insurance or pay a fine.
It also would eliminate the payroll tax, which helps pay for Social Security.
Huerskamp said he supported the plan to cut the federal deficit, but he said it should not be used as a “political football” and that “the country is already in crisis.”
A White House spokeswoman said it is “extremely disappointed” with the House Republicans plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and called on them to “work together to fix it for future generations.”