3 ideas to fix the U.S. healthcare system from a doctor, an author and a billionaire

As Washington politicians have so far failed to come to any agreement about how to fix the U.S. healthcare system, there’s no shortage of ideas being offered from around the country.

Take author Jody Tallal, a personal finance manager for decades, who told WorldNetDaily.com that the country could ensure healthcare for low-income Americans by offering tax credits to doctors. Tallal said instead of reimbursing doctors through Medicare and Medicaid, the country should provide a dollar-for-dollar income tax credit to provide care for the poor.

“Under my proposal, any doctor could voluntarily choose to see a special-needs (low-income) patient as designated by whatever standard Congress wanted to develop,” Tallal told WND. “Instead of receiving a check from Medicare for their services, they would receive a tax credit certificate, redeemable dollar for dollar, off of their income tax bill. This would give doctors the option to work extra time for free instead of paying income taxes and most doctors would line up for such an opportunity.”

While the Affordable Care Act was introduced to make sure everyone, including the poor, had access to healthcare, Tallal said it has made healthcare more expensive for everyone.

Republicans last week failed in their many attempts to repeal the ACA, including a failure of a “skinny” repeal bill.

RELATED: Senate GOP's 'skinny repeal' fails after John McCain defects

Billionaire Mark Cuban took to Twitter to offer his proposal for a new healthcare system, one that would move the country closer to Great Britain’s National Health Service or Australia’s Medicare system, according to CNBC. Cuban proposed doing away with insurance companies and instead using federal funds to boost the number of doctors and other medical professionals and make care more widely accessible. His idea would slash costs by more than 50%, he said, in a series of tweets on Sunday.

 

Doctors also offered their health reform ideas to MedPageToday. Fred N. Pelzman, M.D., of Weill Cornell Internal Medicine Associates in New York City, for instance, said it’s time the country moves toward providing Medicare for everyone in order to provide a baseline level of care, which could be supplemented by private insurance for those who want and can afford it.

"This country needs a safety net that is a little less exclusive. . . You should be able to get the care you need and if you want to see the world's greatest heart surgeon, you figure that out,” he said.