Wayne Hoffman of IFF proposes alternative plan to Obamacare & Ottercare:
This legislative session, lawmakers have a choice. They can approve Gov. Butch Otter’s government-run health-care expansion idea for low-income people; the price tag includes hiring more government employees and interference with the doctor-patient relationship. Alternatively -- without the costly expansion and interference -- legislators can truly help low-income people get needed health-care services, as well as break their cycle of poverty. Here’s how the alternative to Ottercare would work: Low-income Idahoans with chronic health-care problems would be allowed to deposit money in a special savings account, with all of the money restricted for preventative health services. Each dollar deposited would be matched by a local non-profit, sometimes as much as 10-to-1. The state of Idaho would also contribute to the savings account, perhaps up to $300 a year. By the end of a year, a participant could amass a significant amount in his or her account, from which money could be drawn for medical services and prescription drugs. More here.
DFO: I wonder how long a poor person, with no surplus income, would have to save to afford to pay even one night in a hospital? Thoughts?
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.
low-income people; the price tag includes hiring more government employees and interference with the doctor-patient relationship. Alternatively -- without the costly expansion and interference -- legislators can truly help low-income people get needed health-care services, as well as break their cycle of poverty. Here’s how the alternative to Ottercare would work: Low-income Idahoans with chronic health-care problems would be allowed to deposit money in a special savings account, with all of the money restricted for preventative health services. Each dollar deposited would be matched by a local non-profit, sometimes as much as 10-to-1. The state of Idaho would also contribute to the savings account, perhaps up to $300 a year. By the end of a year, a participant could amass a significant amount in his or her account, from which money could be drawn for medical services and prescription drugs. More here.
