Healthcare Gap Grows In Middle Class
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Health Care
The problem with our current healthcare system is that if you get sick and you’re trying to live the American dream (i.e. the ownership society), you get royally screwed by the insurance companies. They treat us as if we’re cars, and one accident drives our premiums through the roof.
I understand their system and why they think they have to do it, but the reality is that their system is pushing more and more of the middle class into being uninsured…and that could really screw us in the end. More on the reasons after the story.
SALISBURY, N.C. � Vicki H. Readling vividly remembers the start of 2006.“Everybody was saying, ‘Happy new year,’ � Ms. Readling recalled. “But I remember going straight to bed and lying down scared to death because I knew that at that very minute, after midnight, I was without insurance. I was kissing away a bad year of cancer. But I was getting ready to open up to a door of hell.�
Ms. Readling, a 50-year-old real estate agent, is one of nearly 47 million people in America with no health insurance.
Increasingly, the problem affects middle-class people like Ms. Readling, who said she made about $60,000 last year. As an independent contractor, like many real estate agents, Ms. Readling does not receive health benefits from an employer. She tried to buy a policy in the individual insurance market, but � having had cancer � could not obtain coverage, except at a price exceeding $27,000 a year, which was more than she could pay.
$27,000. Now who in the hell can pay that? And if this person gets sick, they’re going to take so much more out of the system, because they probably won’t have the resources to pay off whatever medical bills they incur without insurance.
Our current system works, but only to a point. If 47 million people go without a safety net every year, our economy will ultimately suffer. Why? I said it before in a post a couple days ago, but if we’re ever going to have an true ownership society, we’re going to have to have some type of universal healthcare. I don’t know what form it should take, but over the next decade we need to insure our country in order to stay competitive with China and India.
I mean, I don’t think many in this country understand how big a threat those countries are to our “economic leader” status. Because it’s not just about outsourcing. I mean, did you know that each of them have more honor students (kids in higher IQ percentiles) then we have total children in this country? Think about that.
AndIif we can’t keep our population the healthiest in the world, and at the very least our children, then we will fall behind. And that’s not even touching our education system. It may not be 10 years from now, or even 20, but eventually we’ll ultimately be left in the dust because we ignored one of our citizens’ most basic needs.
This next election will offer us a variety of options for how we could approach universal healthcare. They won’t be perfect, but they’ll be a start. And honestly, I don’t think we can afford to start any later than 2009.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 and is filed under Health Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 6th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
There are a huge amount of problems with our current healthcare system, and it needs radical change.
However, it is still one of the best in the world.
Canada and the UK have variations on universal health care programs, but they’re poor excuses. Regularly they come over here because they can not get the treatment they need in their home countries.
I don’t know the solution, but I’ve dealt directly with dozens of the problems many times. The cost of insurance keeps rising due to fraud (on both the patient and doctor side,) horrible management by the insurance companies, and even fraud within them. Medical care does not have to be as expensive as it is in this country, thus the advent of medical tourism. Our system is broken in many ways, but I really have no faith that our government can fix the problem. All government programs I’ve had to deal with in my life have been broken to a worse degree.
Ideally we need a system that rewards the efficient and successful medical practicioners, but has controls to avoid abuse, fraud, while still be accessible to john q public. Most of our government help programs are rife with abuse and fraud, thus creating a drain on all of us and not even letting the people that need it most have access to it.
I think steps have been taken to help the people help themselves recently. HSAs are a great boon, and people are starting to take advantage of them. Hopefully my fears will be dashed and we can get some real insightful and helpful ideas set in motion in the next few years.
March 6th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
If VA Medical care is any indication of MY medical care if the government takes the wheel I’m NOT interested.
March 6th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Alex says the US health care is the best in the world. My question is: For who? Having the best health care if you have the money is not, in my opinion, the same thing as saying America has the best health care available for all citizens. And BTW, on what basis do you assume that America does have the best health care? On what are your metrics based? and in comparison with which other countries?
March 6th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Most will agree that the U.S. has many of the best doctors and much of the best medical technology in the entire world … there is a reason why wealthy people from across the globe come here for treatment.
Of course, much of that superior skill and technology is unavailable to the average American. And, in fact, the make it available is economically unfeasible. The goal is not to provide all Americans with the best possible healthcare but to make sure every American can reasonably afford a health plan. A government run system is almost certainly not the solution for reasons of both practicality and affordability. But a government subsidized free-market system is feasible. That’s where I think we should begin looking for solutions.
March 6th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
From an economic perspective the best way to deal with health care is to sharply & severely penalize illness causes: A fat-tax, obviously sin taxes on tobacco, health requirements for earned-income tax credits, exc. I would much rather see these direct taxes, which allow the market to work more efficiently, than either socialized healthcare or a socialized-lite subsidy system which distort the market and causes gross inefficiencies in its meddling.
March 7th, 2007 at 9:39 am
I agree with Alan that a government-run health care system, such as the VA, may not be as effective as it could be; on the other hand, Medicare, Tricare Prime and Standard seem to be working fairly well and they are government subsidized. My family uses Tricare Prime and from my point of view it works just like any other HMO. The question that concerns me is whether enough tax payers are willing to accept the extra tax burden to ensure everyone in American has health insurance. Maybe part of the health care costs can be paid for by transferring farm subsidies to health care. After all, wouldn’t that consitute a case of the “greater good”?
March 7th, 2007 at 10:11 am
US healtcare is the best in the world? Mm-hmm. Then how come I get fine healthcare here in South Korea, and pay less for it than you guys living back in the States do for a similar level of treatment? How come my Canadian friends (also living in the ROK) were horrified with their healthcare experiences in Boston, and are grateful they won’t have to put up with that when they go back to their country?
In your dreams is US healthcare the best in the world.