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StumbleLETTER TO THE EDITOR:
Time has come for universal health care
Saturday, March 28, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.
There will be a major battle in Congress as President Barack Obama tries to provide health care for all Americans.
On the right will be congressional Republicans, allied with and supported by the pharmaceutical and health insurance companies, as well as numerous other health-related agencies, which are bound and determined to defeat any attempt to bring universal health care to America.
On the left will be the president, most congressional Democrats, and many agencies and groups that try to provide for the needs of American families.
Before you listen to either side, know that there are more than 40 million Americans without health insurance, and this number may have increased dramatically with recent massive layoffs.
Know also that among 36 nations that provide health care for all their citizens, there are similar layoffs, but losing your job in those countries does not affect your health coverage.
Despite the fact that we spend twice as much as these other countries for our health care, we get significantly less for the money. It’s time for America to move to universal health care. It’s the sensible thing to do.
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UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE will seriously downgrade the quality of health care in the United States.
I favor a plan where in the government provides an optional choice plan to the private plans. This hybrid system has the advantage of leaving the private sector plans in place, while checking the cost growth that is being experienced in healthcare. Under this system, everyone who could afford healthcare would pay a premium for their coverage. Those who could not afford it(under well defined guidelines) would receive the benefits provided under the goverment's plan. What we must try to realize is that when the government dictates the level of fees that are charged, the incentive structure for entering the healthcare sector changes, usually attracting those people who have lower expectations for financial rewards, sending the ones who are seeking higher rewards into the private sector where these rewards are more available. Whatever plan we elect should protect our fundamental values as a nation--individual liberty, freedom to pursue an enonomic activity of our choice, private property rights(including the rights in intellectual property, such as patented medical inventions) and the like. By retaining a private component to the heathcare system we can better secure the benefits of private initiative and benefits which flow from it.
Private insurance companies have had decades to improve their coverage for all citizens under all health conditions but have failed miserably to do so. Universal health care is the answer; it will come, and it must come soon! Too many Americans are losing their health care under the current system.
Insurance plans excluding pre-existing conditions are a copout and a dodge against the well-being of all Americans. This must end...all plans must be all inclusive regardless of the illness or disease a person is so unfortunate to have....
The American people want the same health coverage the those who work in Congress get. Barbara Bush, had very expensive, critical heart surgery on the tab of the U.S. government and citizens, but there is no outcry about that!
Our own former Congressman, Jon Porter had expensive ear surgery within months of him first assuming office. That expense was born by the American public as he was covered by Congressional insurance we are not allowed to have. There was no outcry about that bankrupting America...it was ok for him, but it is not ok for you!
Ronald Reagan was cared for with Alzhiemers under the same government health care and there was no outcry about that backrupting America! The Bush's and Reagans were millionaires in their own right but relied on the public dole for their health care...I find that extremely intersting...it proves Greed knows no boundaries...
If those in Congress are so against universal health care let them drop their current congressional plans and sign up for a public, private insurance plan. "Oh, no we can't do that...we work in Congress and we earned it!!!!" Those that rail against universal health care want it all for themselves, and not for you! They are against anything for the working man but not against it when it is for themselves. Big government is too big, too expensive for the average American but not for those in political office.
People are already getting universal health care.
There are free clinics to get preventive care.
There is medicaid and medicare.
There are programs from government and chartiable organizations that help people who do not qualify for medicaid and do not have health insurance.
I know of a person who did not have health insurance and did not qualified for medicaid. He had an operation. He had a private room in a nice hospital. A charitable group picked up about 80% of the cost. He paid the rest off with a payment plan.
Countries like Canada and Sweden that offer government universal health insurance programs ration health care more harshly then what is offered in the USA. The average wait time for a surgery operation in those countries is many months including heart operations. That is why many people in those countries on their on dime come to the USA to get those operations because they can not deal with the pain or do not wish to die waiting for an operation.
It was sad that the poor actress have had to her accident in Canada. The government control health system decided to save money by greatly reducing the number of options to help people in her condition. If she had the same accident in the USA then her odds of surviving would be have greatly increased.
Just FYI, private health insurance is still purchased in those countries even though "free" health care is given to all.
The government already controls too much of health care in the USA. There actions reduce the supply of labor and adds cost to care. Those are the real reasons for the high cost of health care in the USA.
Giving more control to the government will increase cost and ration the product. We will get less and pay more.
My 2 cents.........I have opted to have insurance through my employer at $48 per paycheck. This covers myself and my son. Good price huh? Not if you look at the whole enchilada. $48 per paycheck gives me a $5000 annual deductible for each individual. I go to the doc twice a year and pay their "cash price" because I haven't met my deductible yet (and I never will). I could pay more per paycheck for a no deductible HMO or a lower deductible plan, but I cannot afford to do so. I did not make any appointments for my annual visits in 2008, because I can no longer afford the "cash price" visits.
So I ask, how is any reformed insurance plan going to help me?
Insurance is a pooling of funds to protect ourselves from an extreme expense from ruining us that has a chance of happening but only to a small percentage of the insured.
Fire insurance is reasonable because only so many houses burn and none of us could afford to rebuild.
Health Insurance used to cover hospitalization and accidents. When we decided to add every trip to the doctor, things we all need to do, when we added every medication in the world , trips to chiropractors and the rest. It is no longer insurance, it is just having someone else pay our bills.
Reasonable health insurance would have large deductibles and not cover any meds on the $4.00 a month list at Wal Mart. When insurance becomes real insurance instead of just a cushion so you don't know how much things costs we will start to slow the increase in costs. Make the user pay and the cost will drop.
Our current system works great for the Canadians who need real medical care.
This seems to say that if you want good medical coverage, go to work in politics--and receieve
outstanding medical benefits. Go for it,nothing wrong with that--these folks work for their benefits and get good ones. Many companies have excellent group plans. You have to pay for them but they are worth it. In 40 years of corporate life I always had excellent medical benefits--sure I paid for them,but they were worth it.Other people working along side me , wanted to skimp on their premiums, and they opted for HMO coverage, had limited access to doctors, and facilities,but that was their choice--we should retain that choice for everyone. But there should be a safety net for everyone.
If you can't afford to get the best coverage, there should be a minimum plan that is available that will protect everyone against basic medical needs. But for those who can afford it, who work in demanding jobs, and get good benefits, I certainly do not find that offensive. The main thing that we need to do as a nation is make sure that everyone has some means of care if they need it. This care should be paid for in the form of premiums, unless someone really is too poor to afford it, in which case they should receive care under a government plan that screens them for elgibility.
Pre existing condition exclusions are wrong in my opinion, and should be outlawed. That may impact what someone has to pay in premiums,but the practice should be terminated.
Mr. Mundy,
President Obama cannot "provide" health care, or anything else, for all Americans. All he can do, with the help of Congress, is take money from one group of citizens and either hand it to other people (who may not even be citizens) or spend it on programs he favors, but that the citizens whose money he's spending probably don't favor, unless they enjoy paying for a free ride for others. And if unemployment in the 36 other nations you refer to doesn't affect their health care "coverage," then why should anyone work? Do you say that they must work to pay for food and rent, but health care is free? Do doctors and hospitals and drug companies work for free? Universal health care, like all government programs, depends on the willingness of the few to let their money be taken away and given to the many who didn't earn it. That kills the incentive to earn money for everyone, the few and the many. And killing incentive kills our economy. As evidence, I give you those 36 nations.
Here's some reality for you all. I have health insurance provided by a large organization. My out of pocket costs for healthcare including premiums and prescriptions is $6,000 annually with some of my prescription co-pays rising to $85.00 per month for just 1 medication. I'm sure a universal healthcare system could provide better care for my $6000 if only due to the fact that by eliminating the bloated bureaucracy it takes to administer our present system would save billions.
My son has MS and no health insurance as he cannot work steadily. He would have insurmountable problems trying to get health insurance, if he could afford, it due to his pre existing condition. It is not possible to get the kind of care he needs by any clinic that I know of, and God knows I've tried.
My daughter has very limited health insurance through her employer. She has a benign tumor on her brain that must be monitored. Her insurance will not pay for the necessary MRI's and every so often we must negotiate with companies to reduce the costs of those MRI's. The cost of the blood testing she needs is also not covered and goes undone.
Anyone who thinks healthcare in our country is good is either very, very naive or has not been sick enough to experience the shortcomings of our system. If you are unfortunate and become ill beyond the typical cough or cold, you will quickly find out that your health insurer now views you as a liability and their job is to limit the degree of care you receive.
Healthcare in America is only great if your a government employee. Why do politicians, postal workers, military, etc qualify for socialized healthcare and not the rest of us?
My children will have their lives shortened IMPLICITLY because of the limitations of our shoddy healthcare system.
jfnance32 has a point worth paying attention to on "medicaid and medicare."
If you want want a preview of what "universal health care" would be like, ask your older relatives what it's like to be on Medicare.
Some good background on this point at http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_...
Phil:
I honestly feel bad for you about your son and daughter. But do you really imagine that they would receive better care in a system administered by the government? And would everyone else, who would be paying for your children's care as well as their own, be better off? Government does only one thing well: it grows bureaucracies. Health care costs would explode with the government in charge. And the quantity and quality of care would decline. Under government control, you and your family will be prioritized and your care will be rationed, because their will be so many others with needs like yours, some more and some less serious, competing for limited resources. And the resources will be more limited because there will be fewer providers willing to work for the lower compensation the government will pay.
Our system of paying for health care is suboptimal. But handing it over to the government is not the only alternative, and it is probably the worst. Free market solutions have not been tried on a large scale. Health Savings Accounts combined with high-deductible major medical insurance would result in better use of resources (spending for care, not bureaucracies), higher quality care (more time spent with patients, not insurance forms--and with the government, there will be forms, lots of them), and lower costs (quantity of health care demanded controlled by those paying for it). You would have a real chance of obtaining high-quality care for your children at an affordable price.
"will seriously downgrade the quality of health care in the United States."
Are you kidding? How much lower can it go? For the people who are "lucky" enough to have it, it's mostly about selling drugs and ordering expensive procedures. Huge numbers don't have it, and anybody who loses a job loses it. It's increasingly based on keeping people unhealthy so that drugs can become a way of life. Many doctors have investments in drug companies. Conflict of interest there maybe? It's good about trauma, but the rest is so screwed up it's not funny. When's the last time you went to a doctor and left with advice and some sort of procedure to follow at home (bathe the foot, stretch the muscles, ice it, etc.) instead of leaving with a prescription and/or a referral for a medical procedure such as an X-ray or MRI?
Obesity in this country is a national tragedy. Where is the great "health" system dealing with that?
If this system isn't changed, this is the next crash. We've had the mortgage-based crash; next comes the medical industry-based crash. And make no mistake: it is an industry.
PhilVentura--Sorry about your kids.Resolving these types of health care issues is going to be a very rough road in the future.
To those of you who think the government should give us Universal health care you should speak to people from other countries that have it. Listen to what Daniel Hannan (EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER)has to say about it. He lives with it and his suggestion to the US is not to do it. I don't want our government telling me what kind of health care I can have. They can't even run our country. The only way I would go for it would be if we all got the same coverage our elected officials get, but that won't happen because it is too expensive and unrealistic. If I want to live in a socialist country there are many I could move to and I suggest to those that want to live like that move to those countries. Our founding father's wrote the constitution because they came from socialism and didn't want to live like that any more. Why do these politicians want to change it?
gunowners4obama:
You got it right. My wife spent 3 months in pain with a "shoulder sprain" going to therapy 3 times a week, taking drugs for the pain along with shots before we forced a second opinion and found out that she had a complete tear of her rotator cuff and possibly needs surgery. You can imagine the money spent over those three months in administrative cost getting approvals for therapy, paying the therapists, and the lost time from work because someone was reluctant to authorize an MRI.
If all of you who haven't been sick and haven't had to endure our broken healthcare system really knew what was going on, you wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
I would welcome the Canadian healthcare system and probably any of the other healthcare systems of the 36 countries whose systems are rated better than ours by the World Health Organization. We're rated below Cuba so how could Canada's system be worse. Don't believe the Sean Hannity's of the world who tell you their cousin's next door neighbor knows a guy who lives in Canada that had a heart attack and died in the waiting room because he had to wait a week on a gurney mostly outside in the snow.
Wake up before you're being abused by some big insurance company who's CEO makes $100 million a year for keeping claims low.
Houstonjac
Thanx for your comment but please realize that there are too many like me out there. With over 50% of all bankruptcies in this country caused by an illness you must realize that we have to go another way. Fortunately I have a great doctor who bucks the system to keep me above ground but it shouldn't have to be this way.
Be aware that you are always one serious illness away from becoming your heath insurers worst enemy.
lazyfaire;
Why does the dreaded "socialized healthcare" work for 1.7 million federal government workers & politicians? The postal workers seem very happy with their health benefits too, all administered by a rather small, very effective GOVERNMENT AGENCY from what I gather.
Please check it out.
Screw the high deductibles and health savings accounts! We can't get rid of pre-existing condition clauses, procedure not covered firewalls, elimination periods, etc., etc.
It's broken, period.
Phil:
When the U.S. goes totally universal health care, it will stop working for the postal service. They'll be waiting in line with all of us, plus the "47 million" uninsured. And the 36 countries for whom it works so well won't be able to come to the U.S. to get treatment they can't get at home, because our system will be just as overloaded as theirs. By the way, the postal service can't even pay their own bills. They need to reduce their service to 5 days from 6 days. (Buy UPS and FDX.) Model of government efficiency, and a good indication of how universal health care would work.
You want to screw the high deductibles and health savings accounts. God help us if we have to rely on bureaucrats for health care. Would you want the government making cars or running our grocery stores??? Think about it!!!
And why don't you start an insurance company and cover pre-existing conditions, if there's such a big profit in it?
Our mode of paying for health care is not optimal. But let's not destroy our economy with something else. Use the free market. It works for everything else!
The free market works perfectly fine until the government interferes. Our country is based on a free market system. That is what it was founded on. Do you people not get it? You want socialism move to a country that has it. Then you can let the government take care of you. I feel bad for those who do not or can not afford health insurance (been there, done that) and yes we do need to get the costs down, but did you ever think if the government would stay out of it the cost would come down. A Doctor in New York has several clnics (I think 6 in six different cities) he has decided to help those who don't have health care. He is offering health care in any of his clinics for $79 a month. Anytime you need health care you can go under ts plan. His clinics are set up to where mostly everything you need is there (testing etc...)The state of New York tried to stop him saying he was running an Insurance company. (he eliminated all of the red tape by going with this program so it kept the cost down) They forced him to charge $30 for addtional each visit on top of the $79 per month. He is still fighting it and wants to keep it a flat rate of $79 a month. Government involvement again. Screwing up a great idea.
These line for universal health care will be longer then the one at the D.M.V. OUCH!!!