Like many of you, I am looking at the possible proposals for a United States health care plan and trying to decide what I think. I do not automatically trust Obama to do the best thing because nobody should fall in lockstep and leave their brain behind with something this important.Personally I like the idea of single payer, but I see it fraught with potential problems. I don't like the rush-rush-rush talk. He's saying we have to do it this year or it won't happen. If it's a worthwhile project in my life, I can take time to consider and this is a huge shift.
Currently we have a problem which is hurting small businesses as much as people who are uninsured. It's a big cost on the back of business and don't kid yourself that they don't look for ways to pass it on. It impacts raises and it impacts prices they must charge. It takes into account how many people they can employ in some cases. I didn't know that if they must let an employee go and they sign up for Cobra, their previous employer must pay part of that cost. It's a minefield for its complexity and yet many businesses feel they owe it to their employees to give them the security of a health care plan.
Hidden cost, which is what a lot of this already is, doesn't make something free. A lot of what people think doesn't cost them much is only because they are ignorant of the true cost they (or others) are paying. Here is a good article to read and think about exploring problems in the existing proposal:
Obama Health Plan No Bargain
If you have found good articles or have strong opinions on this, I would be pleased to post your opinions and articles in future blogs with giving you full credit. I think this is a conversation Americans need to be having.
Whether we agree or disagree on what must happen, I think there should be an awareness something should. We have a complex system though where doctors, medically connected businesses, and insurance companies all have a stake in keeping their share of the profits. Not too many are primarily concerned about the good of the consumer.
The fear talk that government will run the system is ignoring who runs it now. Generally speaking, it's not doctors but insurance companies and the businesses who operate clinics and hospitals. Give me a break-- like they have only the patient's best interests at heart!? Businesses must have their bottom-line in mind which means make a profit or fold.
So please consider taking some time to read the article above from CNN and think about it. What is the right way to approach a situation that is sucking up a lot of our economy and not for the best health care system in the world by a long shot. If we do something with nationalizing health care, then there will have to be hard choices to face. How do we pay for it? It won't be free whatever they try to claim. What do we cover? How much do we limit people's free choices? Is it even possible to fix it or did we miss our chance many years ago?
Whether we agree or disagree on what must happen, I think there should be an awareness something should. We have a complex system though where doctors, medically connected businesses, and insurance companies all have a stake in keeping their share of the profits. Not too many are primarily concerned about the good of the consumer.
The fear talk that government will run the system is ignoring who runs it now. Generally speaking, it's not doctors but insurance companies and the businesses who operate clinics and hospitals. Give me a break-- like they have only the patient's best interests at heart!? Businesses must have their bottom-line in mind which means make a profit or fold.
So please consider taking some time to read the article above from CNN and think about it. What is the right way to approach a situation that is sucking up a lot of our economy and not for the best health care system in the world by a long shot. If we do something with nationalizing health care, then there will have to be hard choices to face. How do we pay for it? It won't be free whatever they try to claim. What do we cover? How much do we limit people's free choices? Is it even possible to fix it or did we miss our chance many years ago?
[I plan to run more blogs of photos from our recent beach trip but the one at the top seemed most apropos for this topic. It's looking at something complex and trying to decide how to get from Point A to Point B with rocks, tidal pools and an ocean in the way. This is what I feel we face now. There are rewards for getting past the obstacles; but only if we do it the right way otherwise there can end up skinned knees, broken bones or getting stranded somewhere with the tide coming in and no place to go.]
7 comments:
Rain, your photo is absolutely appropriate for your post. It looks like a minefield and health care reform is just that.
I believe, like Obama, that if it isn't done now it will be another generation before any meaningful reform happens. The reason being, the public are fired up as never before, the economy is in free fall and the cost of health care is a big part of the problem, and the politicians are more serious about reform. The confluence of these issues makes reform possible, even probable, and it may not happen like this for another 40 years.
As to the cost: it will cost more initially, but in future years the savings will be enormous; especially if we can get rid of the insurance companies and force Big Pharma to allow the government to buy meds in bulk. We could pay a large part of the cost by going back to our tax rate that was in place before the Reagan revolution.
Talking reform is easy, but actually doing it is difficult.I hope that BHO can pull it off.Our nation is in a precarious situation:two wars and the economy is very bad.And Obama has admitted that we have no money. Do the math !!
I completely agree with Darlene. It should be done now. I think having a public option single payer system would have an incredibly civilizing affect on our country. To not live with the fear of illness, the burden of cost, and a for-profit insurance industry would be utterly transformational.
We have negative money. And we may be adding a third war. If North Korea keeps on the track they are on.
My concern is I remember the Great Society and the high hopes for ending poverty, the money thrown at the problem, the debt increased, and the end result a situation worse in many ways than it began. Good intentions aren't enough to solve serious problems, and we have many hands out there hoping to get money out of whatever is done-- not many caring about the health of people.
If the US ends up with a health policy that lets anybody go to the doctor anytime they want, have any procedure they want, what will that cost? How about those that head to a clinic with a hangnail? How about people who are living unhealthy lifestyles and won't change? These are the kind of sticky wickets that Oregon got into (other states also I would guess) when they decided to cover health care for those too poor to afford it. There had to be things it would not cover no matter how sorry a person felt for the one suffering. Does this plan have that built into it? That's the kind of questions that the article asks.
In the photo, I love the obstacles of one rock formation in front of another in front of another and part of Seal Rock in the far distance.
The article is somthing that has many general statements. there is always resistance to change and some fear is waranted. Sounds like if we have a recovery, there will be more taxes paid covering health care. If we don't change, health care will continue to suck the breath out of the economy. We are stuck between a rock and a hard spot.
You might be interested in my current post on health care based on a recent New Yorker article by an excellent medical researcher who is also a surgeon.
You make some very good points here. Sadly, we have to do something soon or the whole system is going to implode adversely affecting all of us.
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