About this page: The opinions here are my own, in regards to healthcare reform and a possible universal healthcare plan, public plan, or public option, and yours may vary, but, I try to keep to the facts as much as I can.
My motivation for creating this Web page about healthcare reform is essentially the same as it is for the majority of the other Web pages on this site, which is to help and inform people. But, this time, I have a personal interest in the subject . . . I am hoping that we can quickly get a good healthcare system set up as soon as possible, that will actually benefit the people instead of big business in the form of insurance companies and the like, because I'm fairly certain that there's a lot of people out there who don't want to have medical bills that they cannot get paid off in their lifetimes. However . . . considering the fact that almost every politician must obey his masters, big business, there's little chance of that happening. Also, you shouldn't expect this to happen as quickly as they push through their raises, the Patriot Act, or voting to help out Wall Street fatcats who gambled away money, then want the taxpayers to give them more. If it's something that the people need (that they're supposed to be serving), and not themselves, or their rich friends, expect them to take their sweet time with it and fight against doing what's right every step of the way.
Table of Contents:
What's needed in American healthcare reform and healthcare reform in U.S. history
Employer paid healthcare and why it's not a good idea
HMOs and private health insurance
Doctors shortage and nurses shortage and solutions
What's needed in American healthcare reform:
Guaranteed coverage
Lower cost
An end to pre-existing conditions being grounds for no help at all for several months (and maybe not even after that, if it's not approved), because the patient could die before they get help, or the condition could become much worse and in such a situation, the cost of treating them would be far more expensive.
A public healthcare plan AKA public plan AKA public option, like many older and disabled American citizens have thru Medicare, and the medical decisions are decided by the doctor and patient, not some greedy company making obscene amounts of profit by letting people die.
Or, better yet, universal healthcare, like almost all the industrialized countries in the world have but the United States!
If you think that healthcare reform is something new, you're mistaken. People have been trying to fix it for well over a century, now. One of the more note-worthy events happened in 1912, when Theodore Roosevelt started the Progressive Party, or Bull Moose Party, and they wanted to dissolve the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics. Sound familiar to what's in the news, lately? ;-) Added to this are the facts that many politicians don't hide their involvement with corporations, and are frequently seen flying on corporate-owned jets landing at private airfields.
Despite all the rumors that Washington wants a Canadian-style system, it's just another lie. President Obama wants a public plan as one of many options. None of the major health care bills under consideration call for a full government takeover of healthcare.
For those who call a universal healthcare program a step towards socialism, people should keep in mind that the exact same thing was said to Franklin Delano Roosevelt (AKA FDR) when he started the Social Security system (and the politicains promised that the Social Security Number (or SSN) would never be used a form of national ID LOL), but, people realized that this would be a good thing, since it'd give them some protection when they retire. Of course, it'd be in better shape if the government didn't 'borrow' from it and never paid it back plus the interest it would've earned . . . A universal healthcare program and a healthy Social Security program is probaly even more important today, with the Great Repression going on, and the future being so un-certain.
If the United States models a universal healthcare system after the best examples that work great in other countries, it'd quickly be the world's best healthcare system and would make everybody happy!
Each time a healthcare reform is attempted, the greedy people who make billions out of denying people life-saving medicine and treatments (while charging them all they can get away with), start smear campaigns using whatever will inspire the most fear in people. In the old days, they claimed it was a step towards socialism, communism, fascism, et cetera. The latest fear tactics by those who oppose healthcare reform is the thought of death panels, where people would have the right of life or death over the sick. These scare tactics of course, are easily seen through by many people who are oft-times reminded of similar behavior by grade school bullies (and those adults who never matured beyond that) who call others names which they believed that other people thought about them, because the health insurance companies and HMOs are doing the exact same thing that they're trying to scare other people into believing will happen to them if we get a universal healthcare program, deciding who lives and who dies, by denying the sick what they need to get well, by claiming that they are experimental procedures despite the fact that doctors have been doing them for decades with great success.
Have things changed for the better after earlier attempts to get a public plan or public option or a national healthcare plan or universal healthcare been sabotaged? No! In fact, things have gotten much worse for most people in America, they're getting sicker, they lose their jobs (and their health insurance), and can't afford to get the health care they need.
The World Health Organization rated France's healthcare system the world's best healthcare system in the world. Among the reasons why it's considered the best is because it only costs about half of what it costs per person in the United States, yet, it provides universal coverage, has no waiting lists for elective procedures and pre-authorizations aren't required, so there's no waiting around for insurance companies to approve something. France also has three times as many doctors to patients as the United States does. French doctors are considered to be skillful, caring, and sensitive. Compare that to the last few doctors you saw in America. If someone in France has an acute or chronic medical condition, whether it's cancer, multiple sclerosis, heart disease, insulin-dependent diabetes, mental illness, et cetera, they're covered 100 percent and the patient pays nothing. Maternity stays for women in France in a hospital after childbirth are five days on average, compared to 48 hours that the health insurance companies tried to make even less, but were eventually forced to accept it after U.S. federal legislation back in 1998. In addition to this, French women who are working get months of paid leave, a child allowance, home visits from nurses, and have subsidized daycare for their children. France also has tuition free medical schools, lower payouts for malpractice cases (so doctors have much smaller malpractice insurance premiums), and they don't require a large number of employees to deal with the various health insurers. They have a common electronic billing system that's integrated with their identity cards. Patients also get to choose their doctors, and aren't told which ones they have to go to as in other universal healthcare systems around the world. In France, people visit doctors twice as often as people do in America, and they don't have to worry about deductibles, and their average out of pocket expenses for a year are less than $250. Also, every cancer patient is allowed to get any drug, no matter if it's an experimental drug still undergoing testing or very expensive.
Healthcare in America costs more than any other major country in the world, yet the American healthcare system is ranked only 37 by the World Health Organization. Obviously, we're not getting our money's worth!
According to a recent survey, the majority of the people want a public option, and the majority of physicians want a public option as well. Most physicians want a public healthcare plan because it's far easier to deal with only one agency than multiple healthcare insurers, and, they're already used to working with programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. The AMA, which is opposing the public option, represents only about 1/3 of the physicians, and, in all likelihood, don't speak for every physician in the AMA. Are all the members of Congress and Senate truly serving the will of the people when they vote against the public option, when the majority of the people want and need it? Do their oaths and the Constitution of the United States mean anything to them at all, or do they only follow the orders given to them by the lobbyists and big business?
If they need more money to pay for such things, they can stop spending money for things like adding more sand to beaches. Seriously, which is more important, having universal healthcare or a public health plan that won't cost you a lot of money in premiums and won't drop you and will cover pre-existing condtions, or things like adding more sand to beaches? They can also stop bailing out failing banks and other companies over and over again. As if that had to be said . . . Why do taxpayers have to give money to big business when their companies fail, while we're forced to do with less for ourselves, and our children, and can't even get affordable and reliable healthcare?
Only a few decades ago, things were a lot easier, and affordable. Doctors made housecalls and a visit to the hospital only cost you a few days' pay. If people couldn't afford the private and expensive hospitals, there were charity hospitals they could go to for free. You could also get health insurance for very little money and they had no problems with covering pre-existing medical conditions. Obviously, things have changed very fast and the change was very bad for all.
If the politicians screw us over and don't let us have universal healthcare . . .
Employer paid healthcare:
Employers shouldn't have to pay for employees' healthcare since it might cost jobs, and the employees shouldn't have to choose whether to stay with a job that isn't right for them just because they don't want to switch to a better job and get on another healthcare insurance plan with another employer and be told that they have pre-existing conditions and get told that they have to wait around 10 months or so before they're covered by the plan. But employees can maybe choose to buy into things like Medicare, or sign up for a private plan and both the public plans and private plans have to furnish details of what their plans cover and what they won't and how much they'll cost and the potential buyer has to sign something that says he received and read the details of both plans after he's done so to ensure that the employer isn't witholding that information from the employee which a private company might pay an employer to do and the employee gets to retain the information pamplets or whatever the information is written on to refer back to at a later date if need arises such as being told that the health plan doesn't cover something. For the employee, this might be a matter of life or death and they should be very sure about the facts! To ease the financial burden on the employee just starting a job and trying to catch up on things like rent and bills, they shouldn't be charged for their healthcare plan until possibly their third full check, or be given the choice to let their insurance go into effect sooner by paying now, or waiting until that third full check so they can afford it.
HMOs and private health insurance:
Do we really need to bring up things like $13 billion insurance company profits per year, the $119 million CEO bonuses, the endless denials, and the soaring co-pays and premiums? They're in it to squeeze out as much money as possible from you and the less help you get the richer they get. I'm hoping there's a special place in Hell for people who deny those who need surgery or treatment and get rich off of it.
The scary thing is? The health insurance companies are claiming that a public plan or public option will ruin their business, and now, politicians are considering making in illegal for people to not have health insurance. Anybody still not believe that politicians are more concerned with big business than the people of the United States of America, who they're supposed to be serving, instead of screwing over? LOL It should be very obvious to everyone, now!
If private companies can't stand competition (or claim they can't so that higher-ups in those companies don't have to settle for less money), then they should lose to a company that can offer services to those who need it at a price they can afford. Isn't business competition supposed to be a good thing so that companies can't have un-fair monopolies, even in a specific region in the USA? Besides, who can afford expensive co-payments and high insurance premiums when you're not working because you're sick? But, that might be one of the things those private healthcare companies are counting on . . . As for some politicians stating that in a decade, 50 percent of people could lose their insurance for a year, or a month . . . It really doesn't matter which one it is, and if the months are consecutive, because if you lose your insurance, then get it again, they'll probably not want to cover any pre-existing conditions for several months, if not almost a year after your insurance goes into effect. If you lost your insurance because you couldn't afford the premiums and the amount of money you had to pay on the medical bills as well as pay rent and utilities and keep yourself and your family fed, it's a bad thing, whether it's for a single month or a year.
Why should the citizens of the United States of America be forced to buy health insurance? This sounds like yet another intrusion of the government into people's private lives. And, something the health insurance companies probably thought of and are pressuring the politicians to do, because they'll love it that people are forced by law to buy their products . . . If we're forced to do that, and there is no public plan, what keeps the private insurance companies honest? Without any serious competition, what will keep their rates down? Are we seriously supposed to believe that the same politicians who are forcing us to buy the health insurance from these companies will keep them honest? LOL
Non-profit cooperatives:
If politicians try to go for non-profit cooperatives at the cost of destroying any government-run health insurance plan for the general public, most of the Democrats in the House of Representatives have already said that they won't vote for a bill without a public option. This will, in all likelihood, be used by their opponents, both the Republicans, other Democrats, Libertarians, Centrists, and others, to make them appear to not want to pass healthcare legislation which would help people, but, those who know the story will know better, thus showing the general public that their opponents are either liars who think that the majority of people are gullible enough to believe them or the politicians saying this stuff are complete idiots. Either way, it makes them look very, very bad!
Doctors shortage and nurses shortage:
Here, in the United States of America, there's a doctor shortage, as well as a shortage of nurses. So, many people would wonder how they would be able to avoid long waits for doctor visits and tests. There is a solution to that, as well.
First, there should be tuition free medical schools like there is in other countries, which would increase the number of medical professionals. There would be a lot of competition to get into them, and, with careful screening, those who would be accepted would be highly unlikely to want to drop out of school. To help pay for these, individuals and businesses (both start-ups and already established companies) could pay to use the equipment or for the time of the students, perhaps with some of the money going towards the school, and some to the students.
Second, the technology exists now, to monitor people's blood pressure, pulse, and other health indicators, as well as detect early onset of illness using nanotechnology. People can can wear scanning devices on their wrists to check their health and do periodic tests for indications that they might have such things as the flu or cancer before they grow worse so that they can be treated with less cost to the patient, the hospital, the doctor, and the health care plan. The devices could go through a closed testing period with a growing number of testers to be certain that the devices are accurate and won't give false positives and are stable as they would need to be very reliable since a person's life would depend upon them. If the person is in need of a hospital right away, they could choose to call an ambulance from the device, or it'll be automaticaly done for them if they're un-able to click on the "no" button, and the device could stay hooked up to allow it to gather more information and possibly send it to the paramedics and the hospital so they'd be aware of the person's condition, temperature, blood pressure, and so on, so the EMTs won't have to do frequent tests en route to the hospital and relay it via radio. If the person is not in need of a hospital, they could be given a list of doctors who specialize in the field, and could set up an appointment with some automated system which the doctor's office has that the device can connect to and the person could choose the best time and day for them. This will allow them to confirm this diagnosis and allow them to get more tests at the office (until the devices have been proven to be reliable and can perform many of the same tests that are done in the doctor's office and hospital) and start treatment or to find out if the personal medical scanner gave the wrong diagnosis. At the start, this might be seen to create a strain on an already strained health care system because of a shortage of trained medical professionals, but, the initial cost of the devices would be high when it first comes out much like the iphone and other things like VCRs, PCs, and LCD TVs and few people would be able to afford them at first, and it would quite likely be a few years before the majority of the population could afford to buy one for themselves. As more people buy and use them, diseases are caught early on when they can easily be treated before a person requires surgery which would be very expensive for all concerned and use up more time of the patient and that of the health care professionals. Because they would not be needed for that as often, they'd be able to help more people and faster. The personal medical scanner devices could also be kept on to do diagnostic scans of a person 24 hours a day if desired. The information could be stored on the device and later sent as files to a doctor which would mean a patient wouldn't have to be kept for observation, thus freeing up more bed space in hospitals and freeing up the time of the health care professionals such as doctors, nurses, and technicians there. The data could also be used to help with the curing of diseases and possibly, to find a cancer cure. While some might not think that a cure for cancer is that important, they should keep in mind that there's a growing number of people with cancer, and 10 million people in the United States have cancer right now. That's about 1 out of 30 people. Considering the fact that it effects so many, isn't it important that we do what we can to prevent it, and, if at all possible, cure it? The technology already exists to create such personal medical scanner devices, so why not use it to save millions of lives?
Final thoughts:
The alternative is for things to continue as they are, with people constantly worrying about their health, living with the fear that something may be wrong with them and weighing it against the fear of finding out that they have something of which there is no cure, and other people who spend their lives living with minor symptoms which they ignore thinking it's nothing important only to find out later that it was. Then, they're forced to try to get money for their medical expenses by cashing in on some of their life insurance, taking out a mortgage on their homes, asking relatives and friends for money and their body organs or turning to a life of crime to get the money they need.
Things need to change, and change quickly. And now, they can, if those with power will put the lives and health of others ahead of their own greed.
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