Healthcare reform is an issue in the forefront these days. President Obama has proposed a 1,017 page bill to congress and is now waiting to see the outcome. There is much anticipation about private healthcare going public.
There are some personal issues I have with government run healthcare. I have listed 4 to get things started:
1.) On page 29 of the reform bill it states that healthcare will be rationed. It is my understanding that this means if the government decides there should only be 10 heart transplants a year and your son or daughter, or anybody, is the 11th, they will have to wait until the following year to have their heart transplant. The reason for this is the government will only allow so much money to go toward medical services and once that amount of money has been capped, there won't be any more until the next year.
2.) On page 30 it is stated a government committee will decide treatments and benefits. There will be no appeals. I don't think there is anybody who would not agree with me that this is a bad idea. No appeals? Really? How many times have people been misdiagnosed, or an alternative treatment has been found, or one treatment didn't work so another one was tried, then another, then another, until finally something did work. How many people have been on one medication without the desired results so the medication or dosage was changed? Yes, in my opinion this whole approach is just a bad idea.
3.) One thing I had always believed was that there would be government provided healthcare and private healthcare and people could decide which they wanted to participate in. On page 84 it is stated that there will be government control over private healthcare and the private healthcare companies MUST participate in the Healthcare Exchange. What is the point in having the private insurance if it must behave just like the government provided one?
4.) On page 145 it is stated that an employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government run public plan. There are no alternatives. What would this mean in the scenario that one person has private healthcare and their spouse gets a new job. If that person is automatically enrolled in the public plan is that the plan they must use or can they continue to use the private policy their spouse has?
Obviously there are many more issues pertaining to healthcare reform. These four are just a few, and just from 145 pages of the over 1,000 page document.
Over 30 years ago I had a family memeber who went on welfare for a period of a few years. She would have been free from the welfare system sooner if it were possible to purchase the insurance that welfare recipients receive at no cost. The working American public is already paying for that plan, why can it not be available for purchase? I have heard of a lot of people that have quit their jobs and gone on welfare to get the insurance. How is this beneficial to anybody? These have usually been cases of terminally ill people or people with life long medical conditions, but the family members could not afford the treatments and medications paying the deductibles of private insurance. If they could have purchased Medicaid they would still be working and providing money to the government in the form of income tax rather than taking from it.
Yes, healthcare is a problem in this country with so many people not covered. Any comments, views, or ideas on the matter would be appreciated.
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Kristi,
ReplyDeleteAre you looking at H.R. 3200? I've checked the page numbers you have listed, and the text of the bill is not what you have here. Is there another bill you're looking at? If so, I'd be curious to know which one it is.
Dawn
Well Kristi,
ReplyDeleteNot to be confrontational but just to give my two cents....I have a child with a medical handicap. She is required to go to the hosital every 3 months; that's if she's not sick. When we go she has to have blood work done everytime costing anywhere from $300-$500. If she get sick she MUST go to CMC ER and have a series of test ran and medicines given costing anywhere from $1500.00 and UP per visit! Not to mention her yearly check up where she has to have more blood work, CAT scan, heart checked, organs checked...just to name a few. Shall I go on? Not to mention she's only 7 and has been hospitalized over 30 times and has had at least 8 blood transfusion! Can you imagine my financial state if this was MY responsibility. Her condition is genetic. She nor I chose this but guess what? We have to deal with it to keep her alive and well!
As you can see from just my ONE situation that healthcare reform is SERIOUS business. The points you made are valid, but VERY onesided. First of all the government is not MAKING ANYONE choose government insurance. They have said over and over if you like your insurance KEEP IT! As far as the caps placed on healthcare...let's get real if there is an emergency situation where a person is in need to you honestly think the government would say " Well we're out of money! SORRY!" Probably not! The caps are being set more for doctors to get paid the same amount for ALL services rendered no matter who you are insured with. As it stands now Doctors get in "Kahoots" with pharmacutical companies and perform services that are not needed so that drugs can be prescribed for illnesses patients don't have! IT HAPPENS EVERYDAY! The government is saying "Look! Enough is Enough! There are way too many Americans dying because they either can't afford healthcare or are receiveing poor healthcare because of who they are insured with and we will not stand to the side and allow this to continue!" There are plenty of pharmaceutical companies making millions off of indigent people and someone needs to stop this cycle!
I understand that everything that glitters is not gold and ANY change will also bring obsticals however I would rather see EVERYONE have an option than MOST without one! Right now MOST of us have NO OPTION!
So as far as someone being denied a service because the government is out of money is concerned that's few and far between compared to the number of people who have lost their lives as a result of having NO health Insurance.
When it comes to the couple who is deciding whether or not they want to be on the spouses health insurance at open enrollment versus governement insurance, even they HAVE insurance. Seems to me it's better to have SOMETHING rather than NOTHING!
If we don't do SOMETHING we will head towards a capitalist society where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. You think Health Care reform is horrible and the recession is bad now, let it get to that point and see where the state of America ends up!
Just me venting on the subject. Please don't take anything personally! Thanks so much for your thoughts and insight.
Cheri