Common Sense
Solutions for
your family’s
healthcare needs.

	For Insurance Commissioner elect Mike Hihn Libertarian
Thinking outside the box ... to make health care portable and affordable

Workers must control their families’ health plans, using the same tax-free dollars now controlled by employers

End today’s discrimination against owners & workers in small business

Work to repeal the 2% hidden tax on insurance premiums

Restore accreditation & critical audit staff, by cutting waste elsewhere

When we surrender personal responsibility for our family’s health care — to employers or to government — we also abandon many of our most valuable rights:  our right to change jobs freely … our right to buy only the coverage we want or need ... to shop for the best price ... to select our own deductible ... to pocket any savings we earn ... or to pay more for deluxe coverage.

That’s why hundreds of thousands of Washington families cannot now buy health insurance at any price, in 33 of our 39 counties.  These are workers and business owners with no employer-paid coverage, who had previously bought their own insurance — until state regulations drove their carriers from our state. 

Before that, our legislature and regulators were causing rate increases of 30-35% per year on (mostly) working families, the self-employed, widows and single mothers.

In 1979, I founded one of America’s first local small-business associations.  Back then, small employers had difficulty finding any health insurance for their workers or themselves.  Today, small employers have more choices (in other states)  But their employees still have little or no choice. 

Smaller businesses cannot handle the burdens of sponsoring more than a single health plan.  But if you work for a major corporation, you probably choose from among 3-6 health plans.  Federal government employees select from as many as 12.  State employees have 3-5.

That’s economic discrimination, against the majority of American workers who are employed by small business.   Help me end it.

As long as the tax code “forces” healthcare to be employer-based, then the majority of American workers will always be discriminated against.  Robin Hood in reverse.

Thinking outside the box … How you can win, even if I do not.

Consider welfare reform.  Congress initiated nothing.  It was state governments.  States began by obtaining federal waivers, to invent and test new solutions.  Oregon was one of the first.  We must now do likewise with healthcare reform … starting right here in Washington state.

I will aggressively seek the first federal waiver that allows each individual the option of selecting their own family’s health plan.  Workers must be allowed to control their own families’ health care, using the same tax-free dollars now controlled by employers.

With your vote, we can do that.  I don’t even need enough votes to win — just enough to get their attention, like Ross Perot in ‘92.  Perot lost the election, but he did get enough votes to scare Congress into balancing the budget.  If I win, my initial actions are printed on the reverse.  But even if I lose the election … Washington state families can still win the larger battle. 

Win or lose, the battle will include a new, statewide, nonpartisan, lobbying and research organization, launched after the November election.  I already run a nonpartisan PAC, and will then add a think tank.  With enough of your votes, you and your family can win — even if I do not.

Let’s now end our most heated public debates — coverage for abortion and gay couples.  Why are these public issues?  Because we’re debating what employers should be forced to pay for.  If we instead deregulate, and allow families to customize their own coverage, these bitterly divisive issues will become simple purchasing options … like selecting a shoe style.

Deregulation also works better for cigarette smoking.  I have no idea (nor does anyone else) if additional health costs are imposed by smokers.  This is a matter for underwriters to calculate — if we allow them to.  In the less regulated life insurance market, non-smokers already enjoy big cash discounts on their premiums.

I often hear:  “Okay, Mike, I understand why I need to assert personal responsibility for my family’s heath care.  But it sounds complicated, and I’ve never shopped for health insurance.” 

That’s why it must be optional.  Like everything new, some people will jump right in and start creating new markets.  Others prefer to delay any changes until the trendsetters create some order. Let’s walk through the federal waiver I’m seeking. 

Consider the current premiums for your family’s health care.  Let’s assume $4500 per year, spent on behalf of your family but controlled by your boss.  That would become your own money, controlled by you.  Each year, $4,500 would be deposited into your own tax-sheltered account — similar to a 401k or IRA, but here called a Medical Savings Account (MSA). 

Disclaimer:  You may have heard that MSAs are only for very high-deductible, “catastrophic” insurance.  But that’s just one of many new options that would become available.  MSAs are only a tool, to assure workers get the tax break now restricted to employers.  It’s your money. 

At first, you may wish to stay with your employer’s current plan.  If so, nothing will change for you.  You can then switch plans later, as new and cheaper choices come to market.  Where will those new choices come from?

Imagine all those Boeing and Microsoft workers, suddenly free to scour the market for better deals, or more appropriate coverage.  They will create dozens of new market choices for you, all at competitive prices.  Compare that with the “blessings” of regulation in our state: a 3-carrier oligopoly, with out-of-control prices, when and if coverage is even available.

Your biggest savings may come by simply choosing a higher deductible, and paying cash for routine expenses — like you now do with home and auto insurance.  How much might you save?  SimpleCare, headquartered in Renton, lists medical providers who give discounts for cash, as much as 30-50%.  A growing number of physicians now do the same on their own.  These savings are on top of lower premiums for a higher deductible.  Price competition already exists  — but most workers are now denied these savings (or your employer pockets them).

The free market hasn't failed; we don't have one.  “Free” health care has failed; we can’t afford it.  But politicians in both old parties still want to just tinker around the edges.

Workers must be allowed to control their own family's health care.  Without worker control, there can never be a long term solution to your family’s health care needs.

It’s not just the collapse of individual health insurance.  Management has also collapsed, lost its accreditation, and doesn’t have enough auditors to perform its core function — auditing insurance companies.

I’m the candidate experienced in senior management, specializing in turning around failing businesses, as both an executive and consultant. On the reverse of this sheet, I describe how you can vote for me and win, even if I lose.

If I win, I’ll be at the Insurance Commission the next day, to start learning from department heads and selected worker bees — so I can hit the ground running.  Elect Mike Hihn on November 7th, and I’ll start working for you on November 8th.