I admire President Obama’s tenacity on healthcare, but the plan he is putting forth and the methods he is using to make it law scare me. There are three key problems I have with President Obama’s healthcare plan. The first is that this plan will not be deficit neutral. In reality, this plan is likely to add billions if not trillions more to our already sizable deficit. The second is that this plan gives insurance companies a huge windfall without addressing the underlying problems. The third is the speed at which the President is moving. Something this big and this bold should not be passed in a matter of months. There needs to be due consideration and careful planning. We need to make sure that there is a reasonable expectation of the plan succeeding before Congress passes it.
Let me say that I support each and every American citizen’s right to healthcare. Yes, I believe it is a right, not a privilege. It is one thing to tell someone to work harder for a better house or car. (I can buy into that, no pun intended.) However, telling someone that they need to work harder to get a life saving procedure or drug is another. That is downright wrong. No one should ever be told that they are going to die or are going to have to endure severe chronic pain because they don’t make enough money. Wealth may be what drives our world, unfortunately, but wealth should never play a role in one’s ability to get and stay healthy. NEVER.
Having said that, the question is how do we get there? There are so many unanswered questions as to the plans currently being considered by Congress. Who will pay for this? How do we get insurance companies and government out of having a say in our care? How do we control costs? How do we switch from an illness model to a wellness model? And, should all these questions be answered and cared for, why aren’t we eliminating SCHIP, Medicare and Medicaid from the Federal Budget, not to mention augmenting benefits for our veterans?
I don’t believe the President or anyone in the Congress has answered these questions. All I know of this plan is that it eliminates pre-existing conditions, increases my personal taxes, and supposedly gets everyone coverage. Coverage is a funny word. Given that insurance companies stand to benefit the most from this legislation, they’ll be the ones between us and our doctors. They will also be the ones denying coverage and pushing substandard care in order to increase profits. Do we really want that America? Plus, another elephant in the room is jobs and the economy. Do we want employers cutting jobs so that they can help pay for this? Do we want to push our already fragile economy into, what will be, a permanent depression?
Being the opinionated person that I am, I have a suggestion. I believe we ought to have a hybrid system. As U.S. citizens, each of us would have basic coverage and elective coverage. The basic coverage would be provided by the U.S. Federal Government and would be geared towards getting well and staying well. We’d get preventive care, basic prescriptions, and access to life saving procedures. Each citizen would pay a premium for it based on their yearly adjusted gross income or AGI. The elective coverage would be provided by private insurance companies and augment or supplement the Federal Government’s coverage. It could be offered through employers or people could purchase plans individually. Regardless of the method of purchase, the amount would be tax-deductible. As part of the system, pre-existing conditions would be illegal. Premiums could be affected by risk, up to a preset limit, but insurance companies would never be able to deny an applicant coverage. We’d also give our doctors the latitude they need to treat each of us individually. By going to a hybrid system, we could solve the fundamental problems with our healthcare system while preserving what is great about it. We’d also be able to eliminate SCHIP, Medicare, and Medicaid.
No matter what, the basis for any system we go with needs to be wellness. We need to get people healthy and keep them that way. Treating more and more sick people isn’t a solution. We need to address some of the root causes as to why people get sick. We need to restore mandatory physical education in schools so kids get and stay in shape. We need to go back to naturally growing our foods. We have to get people in the habit of getting regular physicals so we catch and fix problems early. Simply insuring everybody is not going to fix the problem. We need a wellness model.
I am not claiming to be an expert on issues of this scope and size. But, I know when I am being sold a bill of goods. President Obama and the Democrats are wrong on healthcare. It doesn’t help that the Republicans aren’t floating anything worthwhile either. I can only hope that people will revolt and stop this plan from passing so that we can pass some legislation that will do what a majority of us believe, making sure we’re all covered and that we all get and stay healthy. No one should be denied the ability to get and stay healthy and no one should lose their home, their credit, and their pride when they do get sick.