coaster
Senior Advisor
Cash: $ 1356.20
Posts: 6678
Joined: 11 Oct 2005
Location: Wisconsin
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| Why I'm in favor of universal health insurance |
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What is the state of health care in the U.S? I have no doubt that in the U.S. we have the best doctors in the world; we have the best hospitals; we have the best medical technology; we have the best medical research. So, no doubt the U.S. leads the world in health care. Wrong. As measured in terms of the results of its health care system, i.e. the health of its citizens, the U.S. is not number one. Surely, then…number two? Nope. Oh, come on….surely in the top five. No, and not in the top ten, either. Well, where is it, then? As measured by the World Health Organization, in terms of the overall results of what the U.S. health care system achieves for its citizens, the U.S. is number 37, just behind Costa Rica and just ahead of Slovenia:
http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
Well, what in the world? How could the United States of America, the leader of the free world, be so far down on the ranking of the world’s health care systems? Well, the problem in the U.S. isn’t health care, it’s health insurance. Health insurance costs too much, pays too little, and covers too few people. Think of it: how does a for-profit health insurance company make its profit? It maximizes premiums and minimizes benefits. In other words, it charges its customers as much as it can, and tries to get away with paying for as little health care as possible. In my opinion, the health insurance business is a business that profits by increasing the pain and suffering of medical patients and is responsible for poorer health and even death when benefits are denied. Oh, I suppose it’s legal….it’s all written in the fine print in the policy. But is this any way of providing first class health care? Frankly, I think the health insurance industry as it currently operates in the U.S. is immoral and unethical. The health insurance industry apparently isn’t covered by the Hippocratic Oath, summarized by “do no harm.” William McGuire, former CEO of United Health Group, was the third-highest paid CEO in the U.S., according to Forbes Magazine: http://www.forbes.com/static/execpay2005/totcomp.html His total annual compensation is almost $175 million. Now, just think of how many lives could be saved and how much pain and suffering could be averted if he were paid the still very handsome compensation of $25 million and the other $150 million paid out in claims.
The health care system in the U.S. is in mortal crisis. It’s busted, broken, cannot provide for the health of its citizens. There are too many uninsured, too many limited benefits, denied claims. The cost is too high. The current system of employer-provided health insurance doesn’t help those who are unemployed, self-employed, employed part-time, or employed by a small employer who can’t buy them health insurance. The uninsured go to emergency rooms, where they are mandated by law to provide health care, and who pays for it? It raises the cost for those who can pay: the insured and cash customers, and it’s the cash customers who get billed the “full price” -- like $10 for an aspirin. The only choices many people have are to get sick and die or to spend all their assets and then declare bankruptcy. I remember talking to a man whose wife had cancer. He showed me a box full of paperwork - bills from providers, statements from insurance - and he told me that so far over a million and a half had been spent and his wife was still going to die. And that was over 15 years ago. Today that same sum would probably be over three million. Even just twenty percent of three million is certainly unaffordable for just about everyone.
The paperwork that’s required for providers to get paid is unbelievable. I had a long talk once with the office manager of a local clinic and I could not believe what she told me. I don’t think I even understood it all, it was so complicated. And how about doctors’ malpractice insurance? Many doctors are getting out of practice because of the cost of insurance. And of course, this is a cost that’s passed on to the patient. Medical malpractice tort reform is desparately needed. These extra costs of the uninsured and the paperwork and the malpractice insurance are killing health care in this country. They are literally, killing people.
The only solution to the health care crisis in this country is:
1. everyone must be insured
2. health insurance provided and managed by a not-for-profit entity
3. medical malpractice tort reform
Now, I don’t know HOW this is going to be done, but I have no doubt that it MUST be done. It’s just outrageous that health care in this country ranks so low when we have the doctors, hospitals and technology to provide first-class health care in this country to every citizen. Yes, it’s going to cost. But the cost is already skyrocketing each year, and not everyone is covered. Think of it…how is insurance supposed to operate, after all? Everyone pays something to spread the risk, and those who need it get the money. We have to take profit out of the insurance part of the health care system. The only way I can see this is possible is by taking the health insurance companies themselves out of the system. Health insurance should be provided and managed by a not-for-profit organization. And if there’s no profit in it for private enterprise, I suppose that means a public entity will have to provide health insurance. And what’s so bad about that? Health care under the Medicare model actually works fairly well. Ask someone who’s on Medicare. The insured pay a reasonable monthly premium and they pay reasonable copays for healthcare services. Nothing is free, as it should be, but it is affordable. Health care needs to be affordable for everyone, and today it is not, and it will not be with superficial reforms that don’t overturn the current system of how it’s paid for. Exactly how it’s paid for can be worked out. As I see it, if the health insurance companies are taken out of the cost structure, and the cost of the system is spread over everyone like it should be, the cost per person will actually be less than the cost per person is now for limited coverage.
And that’s why I’m for universal health care, under a system of universal non-profit health insurance. Everybody pays something….everybody is covered. Nobody lacks health care because they can’t pay for it….nobody gets filthy, outrageously, immorally rich. Health insurance CEOs and medical malpractice attorneys can find other work. Sounds pretty good to me.
~Tim~
Eye Candy : Why Whimsy
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