Rand Paul's healthcare plan

No telling how many people would simply fall over dead in the streets if they passed that plan. I'd say easily 1/2 the entire population. That sound about right, BamaAtl?

Highlights:

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Repealing Obamacare


Effective as of the date of enactment of this bill, the following provisions of Obamacare are repealed: Individual and employer mandates, community rating restrictions, rate review, essential health benefits requirement, medical loss ratio, and other insurance mandates

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Equalize the Tax Treatment of Health Insurance

Individuals who receive health insurance through an employer are able to exclude the premium amount from their taxable income. However, this subsidy is unavailable for those that do not receive their insurance through an employer but instead shop for insurance on the individual market.

Equalizes the tax treatment of the purchase of health insurance for individuals and employers. By providing a universal deduction on both income and payroll taxes regardless of how an individual obtains their health insurance, Americans will be empowered to purchase insurance independent of employment. Furthermore, this provision does not interfere with employerprovided coverage for Americans who prefer those plans.

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Expansion of Health Savings Accounts

Tax Credit for HSA Contributions o Provides individuals the option of a tax credit of up to $5,000 per taxpayer for contributions to an HSA. If an individual chooses not to accept the tax credit or contributes in excess of $5,000, those contributions are still tax-preferred. Ø Maximum Contribution Limit to HSA o Removes the maximum allowable annual contribution, so that individuals may make unlimited contributions to an HSA.

Eliminates the requirement that a participant in an HSA be enrolled in a high deductible health care plan o Currently, in order to be eligible to establish and use an HSA, an individual must be enrolled in a high-deductible health plan. This section removes the HSA plan type requirement to allow individuals with all types of insurance to establish and use an HSA.

This would also enable individuals who are eligible for Medicare, VA benefits, TRICARE, IHS, and members of health care sharing ministries to be eligible to establish an HSA.

Allowance of Distributions for Prescription and OTC Drugs o Allows prescription and OTC drug costs to be treated as allowable expenses of HSAs

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Medical Expenses Incurred Prior to Account Establishment

Allows qualified expenses incurred prior to HSA establishment to be reimbursed from an HSA as long as the account is established prior to tax filing.

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Pool Reform for the Individual Market

Establishes Independent Health Pools (IHPs) in order to allow individuals to pool together for the purposes of purchasing insurance.

Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to allow individuals to pool together to provide for health benefits coverage through Individual Health Pools (IHPs). These can include nonprofit organizations (including churches, alumni associations, trade associations, other civic groups, or entities formed strictly for establishing an IHP) so long as the organization does not condition membership on any health status-related factor.

Requires that the IHP will provide insurance through contracts with health insurance issuers in fully insured plans and not assume insurance risk with respect to such coverage. Allows the IHP to provide administrative services to members, including accounting, billings, and enrollment information.

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Interstate Market for Health Insurance Cooperative Governing of Individual Health Insurance Coverage


Increases access to individual health coverage by allowing insurers licensed to sell policies in one state to offer them to residents of any other state.

Exempts issuers from secondary state laws that would prohibit or regulate their operation in the secondary state. However, states may impose requirements such as consumer protections and applicable taxes, among others.

Prohibits an issuer from offering, selling, or issuing individual health insurance coverage in a secondary state:

If the state insurance commissioner does not use a risk-based capital formula for the determination of capital and surplus requirements for all issuers. o Unless both the secondary and primary states have legislation or regulations in place establishing an independent review process for individuals who have individual health insurance coverage; or o The issuer provides an acceptable mechanism under which the review is conducted by an independent medical reviewer or panel.

Gives sole jurisdiction to the primary state to enforce the primary state’s covered laws in the primary state and any secondary state.

Allows the secondary state to notify the primary state if the coverage offered in the secondary state fails to comply with the covered laws in the primary state.

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Anti-Trust Reform for Healthcare

Provides an exemption from Federal antitrust laws for health care professionals engaged in
negotiations with a health plan regarding the terms of a contract under which the professionals
provide health care items or services.

This section applies only to health care professionals excluded from the National Labor
Relations Act. It would also not apply to contracts or care provided under Medicare, Medicaid,
SCHIP, the FEHBP, or the IHS as well as medical and dental care provided to members of the
uniformed services and veterans

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Increasing State Flexibility to Conduct Medicaid Waivers

Provides new flexibilities to states in their Medicaid plan design, through existing waiver authority in current law.

For many years, including under Obamacare, States have had the option to request a waiver from HHS to allow states to test new coverage rules under Medicaid and other programs. This provision would allow states to make changes to their Medicaid plans without interference from Washington

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ETA: i'll try to clean this up