Today we begin to discuss some alternatives to the Affordable Care Act. I hope to have the entire piece up by Inauguration Day. For today, I have listed the first of five alternatives to the current Affordable Care Act.

Act II - Did it have to be this way (Solutions For Moving Forward)

In short, the answer is no, it didn’t have to be this way. From the time that the ACA was introduced in the U.S House of Representatives, health insurance professionals who had operated under this type of proposed healthcare system were offering solutions that did not include more of the same that had decimated the healthcare systems in the 4 Reform States. When then President Obama had said “if anyone has any other ideas, he was all ears”, we were shouting with a volume found at a Motorhead concert but as expected, he ignored us.

So, what exactly were we proposing? It is clear that healthcare is expensive and only a complete dismantling and overhaul of the entire system will completely fix this problem. Politicians do not have the stomach for such an endeavor and so we are left to create a comprehensive band aid.

Now, under the right circumstances, this “comprehensive band aid” could indeed be the cure. It touches on all the subjects that make healthcare unaffordable for many.

These are the same ideas we introduced during the initial Affordable Care Act debates that got ignored. We will now go into depth on each proposal and show how they were conceived and how they can help.

1. Allow Association Health Plans in All 50 States - In 46 out of 50 states, people can join pools of coverage based on interest and occupation known as Association Health Plans. The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) allows for their members to pool together to create a wider pool of insureds which helps spread risk and lower premium rates. The American Bar Association (ABA) and American Medical Association (AMA) also have such risk pools for their membership. Currently the 4 Reform States do not allow their residents to join these pools. Making these plans available in all 50 states would both create competition and provide another outlet for people being crushed under nearly unaffordable premium amounts.