Friday, June 19
Universal Health Care
What are your feelings on the idea of the U.S. providing "Universal Health Care" to all its citizens?
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3 comments:
I like the Idea... I just don't think it's doable with the people that are running those programs. Far too much control would be given to those with far too much greed!
In the end, the patient will get screwed, the doctor will get screwed, and the bureaucrats, politicians, and lobbyists will benefit most!
But as an idea, I like it!
I think that Universal Health Care should be a HUMAN RIGHT that we give each other...and even knowing that all you say will happen....I still want a Universal Health Care for all.
A GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN IS A HEALTHY ONE
By H. Micheal Wright
The mere fact that the subject of health care delivery is on the Country’s agenda is a good sign. For too long it has been put on the back burner. Thankfully, the debate is not whether to fix the problem, but how to fix the problem.
All sides to the debate seem to be sidestepping the underlying issue: is health care such a vital human need that it is worthy of the collective support of the electorate? Put another way: Should government intervene to ensure a way for all citizens to enjoy access to reasonable health care? Or is health care, like any other commodity, something that should be left to the marketplace?
Consider those public services that we agree are appropriate for public funding: the postal service, the military, public utilities, public transportation, rail service, highways, dams, bridges, public schools, colleges and universities, sports facilities, merchant marine service, docks, airports, the Federal Reserve, etc. How does the need for health care compare to those public needs? In fact, we already have government funding of some health care programs, such as Veterans Administration, Medicare and Medicaid.
America has seen the problems that come from leaving large corporate interests in charge of vital segments of industry: financial excess, over-leveraging, the need for bailouts, bankruptcies, obscene CEO bonuses, suppression of market competition, monopolies, tax-evasion and other examples of lack of self-restraint. Included among such power-mongers are the health insurance companies who have helped create the problem of millions of uninsured and millions more held hostage to the whims of their health insurance plan decisions. The well-publicized classic example is the CEO of United Health Care whose Board of Directors rewarded him with a retirement package worth $1 billion! This, from a company renowned for its arbitrary decisions denying coverage for medical procedures and referrals.
Can Americans afford to leave the health of its citizens in the hands of profit-motivated corporations without any safety net for those who cannot afford to pay the high premiums that are required?
There is widespread dissatisfaction with the current system of health care coverage. Employers are over-burdened by the cost of health insurance. Forty-nine million, almost one-fourth of the population, many of whom are children, do not work for companies that even offer health insurance benefits and cannot afford private plans. The lack of health insurance burdens our hospital emergency rooms and people who get sick and can’t get treatment reduce productivity and increase the bankruptcy rolls. This harms the economy greatly. Something must be done.
Opponents of a government-sponsored plan argue that the government will be inefficient and “come between the patient and the doctor.” Isn’t that what we already have – health insurance monoliths standing between patients and their doctors? The Medicare program does not have the problem that the opponents worry about.
The health insurance industry is fighting hard to keep Congress from establishing a government-sponsored health care plan. Can it be that the industry knows that it cannot compete with a government plan without losing its excess profits?
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