Op-Ed: My Health Care Reform Proposals

With this constant debate over health care reform and wild town hall meetings, I've humorously summed up what I would truly like to see in health care reform.

America is upset. President Obama has pushed health care form and helped create seemingly polarizing opinions as to what reform is needed. Town Hall attendees are shouting and arguing; the Left and Right are spinning bill clauses like Dreidels on Hannukah. A lot of people don't think we need reform, period. As I scan the scary health statistics on my fellow Americans and realize what our real problems are, I believe that we do need some health care reform. However, the government should have little play in it forcing any activity. Rather, they should offer better incentives to those who do not cost taxpayers unnecessary health costs. These health care reform proposals can apply to anyone, regardless of class, race, sex or access. Health care reform should start with us. And here are my proposals. Mind you, I have not considered the total logistics or cost for these proposals, since most will start with your refrigerator, your own time and your own pocket cash: 1. Use the Progressive Auto Insurance advertising model to encourage Americans to stay healthy. Offer reduced Medicare tax burdens for health-minded individuals. Are you a non-smoker? DISCOUNT! Are you free of uninherited obesity-linked diseases? DISCOUNT! Is your body fat in an acceptable healthy range? DISCOUNT! And get progressively lowering taxes just like you would get a "good driver" benefit. If you fit these basic models and you don't suffer from self-induced health problems, why should pay any extra into Medicare? If you are obese by your own fault but you are in a weight loss treatment program that includes mental health counseling, you should also get... a DISCOUNT! Enrolled in a gym program? Your fees should get a DISCOUNT! 2. Fix public school lunches for real. Currently they only need to meet the basic USDA food standards. That doesn't guarantee them to be healthy, filling or humanly consumable. Schools get REIMBURSED at a flat rate for participating, which means a school can cut corners on what they serve so long as it meets the minimum standards. If my kids are still starving after having a syrup-loaded sausage on a stick, something isn't right. Spend some money on improving their lunches, and they might not succumb to Mickey D's or pre-packaged crap every day. I know as an adult that I'm more productive when I eat healthier food, less productive and more sick when I don't. 3. Make smokers pay for their own lung cancer and emphysema treatment. Yes, this can come from the form of more tobacco taxes that you pay by adding to the Medicare tax (since second hand smoke is bad for non-smokers) or redirected money from tobacco taxes. I think we've spent enough teaching our kids how smoking is bad for you. Thanks to Al Gore's Internet, it is a secret no longer. Smokers can keep smoking all they want. I don't want to pay for their health care costs. 4. Tax breaks for shopping at stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and farmer's markets. If we can create a system to give out WIC vouchers and Food stamps, we can create a system that gives incentives to buying healthy food. Is every item at those places healthy? Absolutely not. I had an addiction to Trader Joe's Jo-Jo cookies that could have easily put me into the "obese" category. But the foods that are, like the fruits and veggies, should be marked like WIC items are and earn you a tax break with every purchase. Regular shoppers can carry around a card that adds up purchases and logs them onto a web-accessible program. Print your report out at the end of the year. One or two pennies to the buck can add up when you file at the end of the year. Could you imagine fast food restaurants jumping into that game and offering "McFresh Tax Break Tacos"? 5. Charitable giving to health-related organizations like St. Jude's should give you an extra tax break as well, like double credit in itemized deductions. Kids don't ask for cancer.