How to really fix health insurance

If you want an analysis of Obama's speech, go here. Suffice it to say that it was not a speech directed at thinking people who understand some of the realities of health insurance, and had I been there, it would have required mighty restraint not to shout a quaint country phrase relating to manure from male bovines about once every 30 seconds.

Perhaps it would be good for Mr. Obama had a few people there done so.

That noted, I did do some thinking about how one could really fix health insurance costs, and came up with the following list.

1. Stop subsidizing grain and sugar. If indeed obesity costs $1400 per obese person in excess medical costs, this should be a no-brainer. You'd also end up cleaning up aquifers.

2. Build the border fence and enforce immigration laws so the load on medical services, especially emergency rooms, is reduced. Could save hundreds of billions of dollars.

3. End the special tax treatment for employer paid insurance, and require employers to offer half what they would pay to employees who want to get their own insurance (usually far cheaper if you're under 50 and don't smoke).

4. Reform the tort system so that the loser pays reasonable legal bills for the winner, always.

5. Reform medical tort law to put a reasonable limit on damages.

6. Admit that unfunded liabilities for Medicare cannot be paid out of reasonable economic estimates, and end it over the next few decades. Let people know that they will be on the hook for significant diseases and watch behavior change.

7. Stop subsidizing daycare. Seriously; how many infections occur because baby is taken away from mother and put in the petri dishes we call "daycare centers," especially since that generally means that baby isn't breast-fed anymore?

8. End lifelong gold-plated insurance for current and former members of Congress, the President, and judges. What we get, they get.

9. Allow interstate commerce in health insurance. Competition saves money.

10. Stop subsidizing air travel and shift the tax burden to tariffs from the income tax. How many diseases reach our shores on a 747 from Asia? Why should people pay income taxes to pay for a Navy and Coast Guard to keep sea lanes open, but no duties should be assessed on imported goods?

11. Reduce government insurance mandates.

Of course, this is about exactly the opposite of what Comrade Obama is proposing, so I won't be holding my breath. Since it's the opposite of what he proposes, though, it would actually reduce costs.