A three-pronged approach to healthcare is the only answer
By STATE SEN. CHIP PEARSON

State Senator Chip Pearson

Last month, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle unveiled a proposal to give consumers more healthcare choices. This new plan, along with several others being tossed around, suggests that healthcare issues could be very prominent during the 2008 legislative session. One thing is clear - our current system of healthcare is broken. This week, I'd like to discuss some of the alternatives to employerprovided and/or governmentsubsidized health insurance, which would make healthcare more affordable, accessible and available to all citizens. If we pursue a three-pronged approach, we can solve many of our country's worst problems when it comes to the growing number of uninsured individuals.

One part of Lt. Gov. Cagle's proposal is known as the Georgia Health Marketplace. The plan would create a number of healthcare products that will be available for purchase through an Internet-based system. Multiple insurers, physician groups and other healthcare plans, such as PeachCare for Kids, will be represented. The Marketplace also will allow consumers to choose highdeductible catastrophic insurance policies with low monthly premiums that can be linked to health savings accounts or other coverage plans. Ideally, with this type of plan, consumers can buy the policy directly from the insurance company rather than from their employer. Whether it's called healthcare transformation or market-based healthcare, the proposal has been discussed in previous years and could come up in 2008. The expanded availability of a portable, highdeductible catastrophic insurance policy is the first part of the three-pronged healthcare plan.

The second key component of the plan is known as the "private" or "personal" doctor or clinic. These clinics could help citizens gain access to affordable, quality healthcare, because many of them operate under a simple premise - not everything about healthcare needs to be expensive. More and more, private doctors and clinics now offer unlimited visits to see a doctor or nurse for a flat annual rate. On the surface, access to a personal doctor with unlimited visits would seem very expensive. However, more clinics like this are popping up at affordable pricing, providing uninsured citizens with some type of basic care. We would need to make these medical expenses tax deductible to encourage citizens use this type of care.

The last vital part of any successful healthcare reform is the healthcare savings account. By requiring the option of a tax-free medical savings account to pay for deductibles, electives, non-covered items and long-term care (you potentially incur 60 percent of your total lifetime healthcare costs in the last six months of life), we can give consumers more choices and flexibility in how their healthcare dollars are spent. Georgia has recently introduced a healthcare savings account as part of the State Health Benefits Plan (SHBP), but this again is a governmentcontrolled insurance option.

Next year, when the General Assembly convenes at the State Capitol, we will look at several new healthcare initiatives. We will work toward the implementation of a sound plan that will benefit many of those who are currently uninsured. These proposals should be measured by their impact in creating a market-based healthcare system that lowers the number of uninsured in Georgia while offering portable, stable and affordable individual coverage. By increasing the availability of options such as the portable catastrophic insurance policy, the "personal doctor" and the healthcare savings account, we will move toward a threepronged system that is individually focused rather than employer based. Continued dependence upon the government to supplement the rising costs of healthcare will only lead us down the path to socialized medicine. I look forward to your input on the subject, because access to quality, affordable healthcare is crucial to the continued success of our state. In the upcoming weeks, I will delve more deeply into each component of this threepronged healthcare plan.

Please feel free to contact Sen. Chip Pearson at his office in Atlanta at 404.656.9221 or by email at chip.pearson@senate. ga.gov.