Health Care Reform

While the Donkeys, Red Elephants and the Blue Dogs try to wrangle out a Health Care Plan that everyone can live with, I thought that I would throw out some facts to consider. H. R. 3200 is under consideration right now. The Elephants say that Obama and the liberal Democrats want to do away with private insurance. Why would that happen now if it hasn't happened yet?

Do you realize that 30% of Americans are on government sponsored health care? That is right 30%. Between Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, and the VA for our military men, 30% of Americans are on the governments dime already.

54% of Americans are on employer sponsored insurance or purchase individual insurance. I know the plan that was offered to me at my last job wasn't very good. I was lucky that my wife had really good coverage that I could be covered under. I was told that my last employer was paying $7,000.00/year for each employee and the coverage wasn't that good. High deductibles on office visits and medications. Spotty care unless you wanted to pay extra.

16% of Americans have no health care insurance at all. That is 46 million people. This 16% of Americans is who I thought HR 3200 was trying to cover. You can keep your employer sponsered plan or individual plan if you want. The Government is working to cover the 46 million people who have no coverage. If your employer decides not to cover your health insurance any longer, do not blame the government for your immoral employer. Just as the banks are claiming that they must hand out bonuses to their best employees in order to hold onto them, employers will have to offer a good health care plan in order to hang onto their workers. Insurance companies are just going to have a bit more competition.

I remember a decade or so ago the insurance companies claimed that if every driver in the State of Ohio had Auto Insurance the cost of Auto Insurance would go down. Would not the same hold true for Health Insurance? If hospitals and Doctors are not stuck picking up the bills of indigent people, they should be able to lower their costs to insurance companies, who then could lower the cost of insurance premiums to individuals and companies.

Here are a few other statistics to consider. The United States is ranked 37 out of 191 industrialized countries in the world for their health care. We should have the best and be ranked number one. People like Republicans and Blue Dogs argue that this number is misleading because it takes into account items that favor socialized medicine. OK here are two facts that I don't think you can argue with. 1. The United States is ranked 24th in the world for total life expectancy. 2. The United States is ranked 2nd (hooray) in total expenditure on health care as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (Oh Boo). So we spend more but we don't live longer. Isn't that what it is all about, quality of life.

Radical, Right Wing, Alarmist, are claiming that HR 3200 Section 1233 is making doctors council old people into stopping nutrition so that they will die sooner and not cost the new government sponsored insurance extra money. I read Section 1233 and it sounded to me like a provision for the insurance company to cover a discussion about a Living Will or a Durable Power of Attorney with your doctor. I recommend to all of my readers even if HR 3200 does not pass please go out and get a Living Will and Durable Power of Attorney filled out and put on file with your Primary Care Physician. I do not want to be kept alive on machines just because Science can do it. Let me die rather than be a vegetable. But someone else might want to be kept alive at all cost. That is their right. Before you become incapacitated you must have your wishes spelled out with a Living Will and a Durable Power of Attorney. The hospital will abide by what you decided while you were still of sound mind. This is a good thing, not something to be alarmed about. This is what Section 1233 is about.

The United States is by far the best country in the world. We spend millions of dollars helping other countries with their health care. Before we help others shouldn't we have the best health care for all legal American Citizens first? Our system of health care works for the rich but it needs to be tweeked so that it works for the poor too. Don't be scared by the Radicle Right into not provideing health care coverage for 16% of Americans. Remember this Radicle Right fought against Social Security, Womens Rights, Civil Rights and Medicare because they would be the downfall of America. Here we are still going strong. Lets help 46 million Americans afford health care.