Some Thoughts On Health Care
By The Pajama Pundit | Related entries in Health Care
There we were on vacation. [side note: I just got back from a week-long hiatus] Able, for once, to actually watch news as-it-happens. The Wife and I decided to take a break from reading various novels and making piña coladas to watch President Obama address a joint session of Congress — and the nation at large.
Maybe it’s because I’ve always been fortunate enough to have good health care. Maybe it’s because the subject is rife with minutiae that is, for the most part, well beyond my realm of comprehension. Maybe it’s because I’m lazy. Whatever the reason, I have been more-than-somewhat reticent about weighing-in on the issue of health care reform.
Now, I think I’m ready.
I watched the President’s speech last week and I think that, despite douchebaggery from the peanut gallery, it was an interesting and informative presentation. Obama batted down the rumors and lies, defined what will and will not be included within the health care bill and, most importantly, spoke in a language that I could understand. This was a moment for Americans to hear it ‘straight from the horses mouth’, so to speak.
After listening to the President talk, I feel much more comfortable with health care reform the likes of what is currently being considered. Health care reform needs to start with the industry itself…
To me, the most important reform in our health care system is the idea that a patient cannot be denied care or dropped because of a pre-existing condition. For too long, the health insurance industry has been shirking responsibility on this subject. No more yearly or lifetime caps goes hand-in-hand with this. For people with terminal illnesses, this is also a huge win.
No one will be forced to change doctors or insurance providers if they do not wish to do so. The President called a single payer health care system ‘unrealistic’. While I’m sure this enraged many progressives, it made me feel better about the plan. People like me do not want to be forced to change doctors or health care providers if we are happy with what we’ve got. This is an attractive part of the legislation.
I think that the only part of the health care proposal that still bothers me is the national mandate for health care coverage.
Don’t get me wrong; I get it. Just like our cars (in PA anyway), our bodies must be insured. It will help with bringing costs down (i.e. taxpayers won’t have to pay for non-insured trips to the E.R.). However, I don’t like being told what to do. It’s where the conservative in me really comes out. For example, I was proud to be a Pennsylvanian when our state legislature repealed motorcycle helmet laws a couple of years ago (these days however, the PA legislature and Gov. Ed Rendell look like a bunch of idiots). You know, “Don’t Tread On Me” and all that.
But, if getting affordable insurance to the millions of Americans who do not have it ruffles my libertarian feathers a little bit, then so be it. I’m willing to sit uncomfortably for a while so that others who heretofore have not been able to get quality health care are now able.
No program will ever be perfect (see: current system). Completely switching to a single-payer universal system would be too much, too fast. But, I think that the proposal at hand is a reasonable attempt at reform.
Oh, and for the record: this health care reform is not socialism, communism or fascism. President Obama is not Hitler or Stalin or Mussolini. If the bill passes and our health care system gets the reform that it needs, there will not be any Russian tanks parading down Main Street. Relax.
This entry was posted on Monday, September 14th, 2009 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.
September 14th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
You forgot to mention that Obama is not The Joker either…
September 14th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
To start, let me say that I appreciate your sense of decency and civil cooperation in this post.
I don’t think it’s communism or fascism, but do I think it makes our system demonstrably more socialistic. It’s simply that this doesn’t bother me very much given the current state of affairs and the existing alternatives.
Americans live in what could best be called a sort of a social democracy, even if America itself may not match what a given definition of social democracy enumerates. We enjoy substantial social protections that are financed by all of those taxed and accrue to all who qualify, like unemployment insurance, social security disability, social security, medicaid, medicare, welfare, and so on.
And for the most part, American think this stuff makes at least some sense, even if they quarrel over the details of scope and extent. So I think its unfortunate for all of us that we can’t seem to get the kindergarten fish or fowl argument about whether the plan is “socialism.”
Couple questions here. You seem to be presuming that a single payer system would be likely to force folks to change doctors. I’m having trouble connecting those dots. Care to elaborate?
The other thing is this. I didn’t see the whole speech. Is it your sense that by “unrealistic,” Obama meant politicallyunrealistic, or that he meant “unlikely to be a good solution?”
I agree with those folks who are concerned that a huge unified gov’t system could conceivably become a real nightmare of inflexibility and red tape. It’s just that with each year, the existing system becomes more of a nightmare of inflexibility and red tape. So personally, I’m willing to entertain the notion of reform towards some overarching unity and streamlining. It took me 6 phone calls to have everything in order for a follow-up doctors appointment today, and as I looked for jobs today I noticed how many jobs there are in healthcare…middlemen of various sorts.
In short, my experience with healthcare is that they often make the simplest things complicated, for various reasons including @ss-covering, data collection, and a lack of communications compatibility between various entities. And it seems obvious that we could do better in many ways that probably can’t happen without some sort of top-down reform to standardize communication and data collection for starters.
September 14th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
PP,
The mandate is necessary because otherwise many young healthy idiots refuse to buy insurance. This works out great for them until they hit their 40s or 50s, and have a heart attack. Then they need insurance, so they buy it. And, to break even, the insurance company has to charge them their current medical costts, or $10,000 a year. That’s one reason individual policies are so ludicrously expensive.
Without the mandate Obama would simply be putting everyone into the $10,000 market.
September 15th, 2009 at 1:44 am
You may want to look at Jazz Shaws post at the moderate voice
http://themoderatevoice.com/46242/the-landmine-in-obamas-health-care-plan/
Especially this part:
COST: Under $900 billion over 10 years.
HOW’S IT PAID FOR: Fees on insurance companies, drug makers, medical device manufacturers and insurers. Tax of 35 percent on insurance plans costing more than $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for families, applied to premium amounts over the threshold. Cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. A fee on employers whose workers receive government subsidies to help them pay premiums. Fines on those who fail to get coverage.
————————-
So you can keep your current plan, just don’t be surprised if your paying 35% more for it. That $8, 000 or more figure not only includes what you are currently paying, but the part your employer is currently paying. This costs will likely get passed on to either you or your boss, if its your boss, don’t think it wont hit you as well. You know that raise you wanted?, you know that extra help everyone wants the hire? You know that job security you had? You know that policy your employer was carring for your employees?
Think about it.
September 15th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Mike A. — Yes. Obama is not the Joker. =)
Nick B. — I understand the mandate. I may not like it, but in the scheme of things I think that it looks to be a ‘necessary evil’.
Leonidas — I’m a big fan of Shaw (and of ModVox in general), so I had indeed read his post. Personally, I’m not too worried about a raise because I am a stay-at-home-dad. However, I do see your point(s).
September 15th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Yeah, I’m not sure how single payer=can’t choose your doctor. Can you answer Kranky’s question on that, PP?
September 15th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
I think single payer is the only viable change that will reform the system in this country. everything else is just status quo.
September 16th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Oops! Sorry Kranky and blackoutyears! I missed Kranky’s original question in the comments.
Maybe I should have worded what I wrote a bit differently. I did not mean to suggest that single-payer = no choice in doctor. My intention was to simply say that, under Obama’s proposed plan, nobody would be forced to leave their current provider.
I watched the President’s address live on the teevee, and I suppose that at some point I must have misheard him. I just pored through the text of the speech and cannot find where he used the word ‘unrealistic’ when describing a single-payer system. My mistake. However, he does say this:
Hardly the same thing — but it demonstrates my overall point that Obama is really trying to tack to the center (read: get some bipartisan support) rather than making a hard-left turn.
Chris, my major contention with a single-payer system is that it would flip our nation’s health care system completely on it’s end. I’m not necessarily opposed to single-payer (in theory), it’s the implementation that concerns me.