I believe the secret to the success of any Republican administration, is to make government as small as possible, through among other things, privatization and regulation. Also, instead of creating a government program to address a problem in society, create instead a system of competing actors to address the problem, and make sure it is properly structured and regulated, to get the best results. For example, I believe public schools and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), should be privatized, to significantly improve these institutions, and to do so in a sustained manner. Competition always brings out the best in people, and in the institutions they run, and keeps them honest.
I believe all veterans should be given health insurance coverage, to go to a wide range of private health facilities, and that the assets of the VA should be sold off or run by private contractors for the government (or some combination of the two). This would dramatically improve veterans care, save the government a lot amount of money, and reduce the footprint of government - which becomes better, as it gets smaller. Another thing: this makes it harder for the Left to try and grow government again, when they return to power. In addition, there are medical issues that are unique to veterans, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and recuperation from the loss of limbs. Contracted out VA medical facilities could continue to focus on these areas, as well as try to get new patients. The VA could also offer guidelines and assistance to private medical facilities, that want to specialize in veterans’ care. The above are just some of the improvements that can come from the widespread privatization of the VA.
Many say entitlements threaten to completely eat up and destroy the national budget. I believe applying the above principle of privatization can go a long way to solving the problem. For example, I believe we should have private, relatively conservative 401(K) styled alternatives to social security, that users can buy into in lieu of social security. Keep social security around, but allow private, well regulated alternatives to emerge, that provide better returns than social security, which are backed by the U.S. government. Eventually most people will use private social security alternatives, and the footprint of social security on the government, will dramatically shrink, and dwindle as a threat to the government’s finances.
As I indicated in this article, I believe our healthcare system needs to be restructured to lower costs in a sustained manner, by: maximizing competition through price transparency; government incentives to healthcare providers to cut costs; the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), that consumers can use to freely purchase non-catastrophic healthcare directly from healthcare providers; and the relegation of health insurance, largely to cover only catastrophic events. To complement this, Americans could pay into private Medicare accounts throughout the history of their work life - similar to private social security accounts. (There would still be government Medicare, but private options would be allowed.) These private Medicare accounts (regulated and backed by the government) would fund consumers’ HSAs, and provide catastrophic health insurance during retirement and times of hardship. Medicaid could work by the government topping off a private Medicare account for an individual, during times of hardship for the individual.
If the above reforms are implemented, the burdens of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid would be significantly reduced on the federal government, and would significantly reduce the footprint of government, and lead to better results for the beneficiaries of these programs.
