For my second article in my series introducing the positions of the Alt-right. I will discuss Obamacare and healthcare in general. Since the Alt-right is less moored in conservative or progressive ideology and instead looks at things from a nationalist point of view we do have more freedom to look at things objectively.

Like anything else there are good parts to the law and bad parts. To sum it up in one paragraph the positive is that the sickest part of our population can now be insured. The negative is that premiums are rising for everyone else. It has also proved to be unsustainable as insurance carriers are dropping out of the markets at a rapid rate. We do support President Trump’s call for a repeal and replace of Obamacare as it is obvious to even its most ardent supporters that it cannot continue as it is. We have a set of proposals that I will outline below. By having an America first mindset instead of one that puts global interests before national ones we believe the system can function.

Individual Mandate

We do agree with the conservatives members of our coalition in the GOP that the individual mandate must go. People should have the freedom to choose whether they get insurance or not just like they have the freedom to pick and choose whether they get any other service. We do want to highlight personal responsibility. Since people have the choice not to get insurance then they must also accept the consequences of not having insurance. Emergency rooms and other areas must not give healthcare to those without insurance or other means to pay. It does sound draconian but we are providing an affordable means for everyone to be insured so there is no reason not to be. It would also help with illegal immigration as they would be denied healthcare.

We do realize that the individual mandate is important for the risk pools to remain healthy but we believe other measure we outline can solve that.

Drug Price Controls

In 2015 prescription drugs represented 10% of all healthcare related costs. According to pharmacutecal companies they recoup the costs for researching new drugs here which is why they can survive even if other first world markets have put up price controls. The Alt-right believes that there should be no legitimate reason for America to bear the brunt of the cost of new drugs for the world’s benefit. The costs should be shared.

We do take a break here from the conservatives in our coalition as we are outright calling for more regulation. We believe it is necessary in this case. By putting price controls on their drugs Britain, Canada, and other countries are harming American citizens as we are forced to pay more to compensate. In cases like this the government is necessary to ensure a fair playing field for all countries.

Remove State Barriers

Nearly every Republican candidate this election cycle called for the removal of state lines. We support this as well as it means more competition and choices for the consumer. Removing the state lines would also mean that more people can sign up for each individual plan as the market would be bigger increasing the risk pool which makes up for the loss of the individual mandate.

The counterarguement is that it creates a race to the bottom as insurance companies race to put their headquarters in the state with the least amount of regulations. First off we must realize that the current state of obamacare is a race to a monopoly as each market is headed to a situation where only one carrier services it. If we had a choice between race to the bottom and a monopoly then the bottom is always best as there is competition. That competition would also solve the problem as each the consumer would select the provider with the best services.

Foreign Aid

The government spends billions yearly in health related foreign aid to poorer countries and to the United Nations, Red Cross, and other entities like that. This foreign aid would not be an issue if we were able to provide quality healthcare to our citizens first. With the failure of Obamacare we have shown that we cannot. This aid given to the rest of the world should be temporarily halted and put into something like a Health Savings Account given to each citizen to be used for their insurance premiums or deductibles. Once our own healthcare system is stable and fixed we can then resume giving worldwide.

The democrats and republicans have not proposed this or brought it up. We are proposing this as we believe the first responsibility of the American government should be towards American citizens.

Foreign Medical Tourism Tax

There are a lot of procedures that can only be done inside the United States. This happens due to medical skills, hospitals wealthy enough to purchase special equipment, patents, and a whole host of other things and we propose to leverage this to our advantage. There should be a new tax for foreigners who travel to the US to get medical procedures done. This money would then be put into the same Health Savings Account created in the previous bullet and be used as a subsidy by the American people to pay for their premiums or deductibles.

It does need to be pointed out for our liberal friends that the people who would end up paying these taxes would be among the wealthiest worldwide. The primary consideration of the people who need these services is availability not cost. I am not advocating for a 100% tax on this but even doubling the cost would not decrease the demand for these highly specialized services.

Doctor-Insurance Streamlining

One of the things doctors and hospitals hate the most about insurance is that it takes 6 months and sometimes a year for them to recieve payment for services they already rendered. Of course this is a trade-off as with insurance more people can afford their services. It does come at a massive cost to our doctors and hospitals however as that money is sitting in the bank accounts of the insurance industry instead of being invested by the people who earned it to earn more money.

What we propose is a bargain between the doctors , insurance industry, and the government. The next numbers I am going to give are theoretical and could change but provides the framework of what we want to happen. The healthcare industry agrees to give a rebate of 10% of anything they charge to be put into the Health Savings Account previously discussed. The Government then imposes additional regulations on the insurance industry to force them to release the funds within 2 months of when the service was rendered. The hospitals can then invest this to make up for the 10% rebate. The faster turn around time also means that more doctors would want to be involved in the process increasing available choices.

We believe that by taking the best from both liberal and conservative points and applying them with nationalism or an America first mindset we can fix our healthcare system.