Press Releases • Jul 2017 • Health Care Reform - Obamacare

If Full Repeal Is the Answer, Then What?

 

For Immediate Release
July 31, 2017

Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom: Americans Voted for Full Repeal of the ACA But Many in Congress Are Waffling With the ‘What Ifs’

ST. PAUL, Minn.—The U.S. Senate last week voted down a partial repeal of Obamacare, then an attempt at a “skinny repeal” failed early Friday morning.

Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org) says that even though the American people voted into office many politicians who promised a full and complete repeal, many of those same lawmakers, perhaps for political reasons, are too afraid of what real repeal would mean.

But Twila Brase, president and co-founder of CCHF, says that a full repeal will restore freedoms the ACA snatched from the American people.

“Government health care is about force,” Brase said. “Americans are forced under the thumb of thousands of pages of regulations, forced to pay taxes and penalties, forced into narrow networks, and forced to share their private and personal medical information with numerous entities. An Obamacare repeal wouldn’t come with more problems, as many claim, but instead would pave the way back to freedom—back to real and affordable solutions.”

Among those solutions, Brase says, are:

1. Catastrophic coverage
2. Self-pay / third party-free payment 3. Health care sharing
4. Charity

First, a full repeal of Obamacare would give way to the return of catastrophic coverage, which is what insurance is meant to be: affordable financial protection against insurable conditions, not payment for routine and minor care.

Second, “cash-pay,” “self-pay” or “third party-free” practices allow patients and doctors to be free from the costly and intrusive shackles of insurance, regulations and government programs. CCHF aims to restore health freedom, for both patients and doctors, through the innovative initiative The Wedge of Health Freedom (www.JointheWedge.com). Today, more than 200 medical practices in 44 states around the country have joined The Wedge, which is using third-party-free direct payment to transform the entire health care system back to freedom and restore simplicity, affordability and confidentiality.

Third, Brase said, some patients would be free to make health care decisions without interference in a supportive community through health care sharing ministries, the four largest of which are: Christian Healthcare Ministries, Liberty HealthShare, Medi-Share and Samaritan Ministries.

CCHF issued a report in January 2010 on health care sharing before the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Because health care sharing members are exempt from ACA mandates, the membership of these groups has climbed steadily each year. Health care sharing, Brase says, can be a wonderful way to avoid enrolling in costly and intrusive Obamacare coverage. And the stories of those impacted by health care sharing are uplifting—much different than the horror stories of government health care.

And fourth, being free from government health care would allow doctors to engage in charity again, as they were free to do years ago when health care was truly about care rather than coverage.

CCHF often educates Americans about five key elements of health freedom and five essential rights.

Five Elements of Health Freedom (CCHF’s “5C” Solution)

  1. Cash for Care – payment by cash, check or charge for routine and minor care

  2. Catastrophic Coverage – indemnity insurance for insurable events

  3. Charity – foundational ethic for the practice of medicine

  4. Confidentiality – patient consent for data-sharing required

  5. Compassionate Care – work for patients, not payers


Five Essential Rights of Health Freedom

  1. Right to Privacy (property right)

  2. Right to Real Insurance

  3. Right to Refuse Insurance and Medicare

  4. Right to Private Contracts

  5. Right to Be Charitable

For more information about CCHF, visit www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page or its Twitter feed @CCHFreedom. Also view the media page for CCHF here. For more about The Wedge of Health Freedom, visit www.JointheWedge.com, The Wedge Facebook page or follow The Wedge on Twitter @wedgeoffreedom.

 

 

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