"Some might think this is pie in the sky, but help me out here. The path we are on right now is going nowhere. ObamaCare is broken, and the fixes put forward might be worse. Or better. We simply don't know."
I have said this before many times. Obama and Pelosi really did a job on this country with ObamaCare. Back in 2009, there was an opportunity to improve an already great healthcare system. The envy of the world. But no - we let politics and ego get involved. Politics from the then Speaker of the House (that be Ms. Nancy) and ego from POTUS (I have GOT to have a signature achievement!). Any losers here? The American people, that is all.
Right now, many are mad as hell at John McCain. I am not, and I will tell you why. This repeal and replace vote is half baked. The "cure" being put forward to "fix" ObamaCare might be worse than the disease. Why do I think that way? Nobody seems to have a straight answer if this will be cheaper or more expensive, insure or uninsure more people, or what. It is that same dark tunnel we looked down when Ms. Nancy said, "We need to pass the bill so we can understand the bill." So we passed it, and now understand it to be a POS.
Here is my take, and I really am trying to take politics out of it. Why? We can't afford the games. We need solutions. Citizens are getting killed by ObamaCare's sky high premiums, deductibles and co-pays.
First off, we need a national discussion (NOW!) on all our entitlements. Real truth talk. Our country is graying. Therefore, our Social Security recipients, our Medicare recipients are going up every year. If we decide we are going to do "Bernie-care" (Medicare for all), we need to know what that means. Cost-wise, service-wise, and debt-wise. To keep the politics at bay, we need facts. And the truth. The unvarnished truth.
Some want to go back to market based insurance. Okay - what does that mean? Will some people be uninsurable? If so, how many? Pre-existing conditions? Are they covered or not? What I have heard is this. Whereas "Bernie-care" is coverage for everyone at some unknown cost, market based insurance might be coverage for some, but not all. I took enough math in school to know that too many variable in an equation make the answer an unknown - or a guess.
This is one of the suggestions that Trump has put forth in the past, which I think is correct. We got into this mess by excluding one side of the table. To exclude the other side for the "fix" will be a non-sequitur. The fix will affect everyone and therefore needs to have the input from everyone. Everyone from Libertarians like Rand Paul to Socialists like Bernie Sanders. EVERYONE needs to have skin in the game to fix this mess. Let me say that again - EVERYONE.
And if this fix (any fix) going to explode our national debt even further, that has to be part of this national discussion also. Then a basic question needs to be asked. Is the national debt even relevant? Is it dangerous to our economy? Or is it just smoke and mirrors. Most of us don't know as we don't hear our leaders talk about it much. If it is determined to be dangerous to our economy, what is the fix? We need all four of our entitlements involved in any national debt fix.
Until we can answer these questions, enough of this charade in Washington of fixing ObamaCare with something unknown or untested. This country does not need anymore division right now. Fixing our healthcare mess as a team would certainly help.
Some might think this is pie in the sky, but help me out here. The path we are on right now is going nowhere. ObamaCare is broken, and the fixes put forward might be worse. Or better. We simply don't know.
Great subject!
ReplyDeleteHere are my thoughts after reading about the problem.
The best solution would be for the people to get over their fear of “socialism.”
It’s a term few understand correctly and is widely used by opponents of any community based program that is better for the greater good.
We have many public services that people don’t consider “socialist.”
Providing public financing for healthcare would be no worse than continuing public financing of our libraries and schools.
Medicare has several decades of experience and a good track record keeping administrative and overhead cost below three percent.
Let us merge Medicare (which serves seniors) and Medicaid (which serves low income persons) into one and provide coverage to the entire population, including 50 million that have no coverage and the private policy holders, including those that are covered by their employers.
There will be no need to buy individual private insurance although the option will be available. Cadillac Plans!
This national plan could easily be funded through the current Medicare and Medicaid revenue sources supplemented with some additional taxation.
Tax payers could pay an additional tax, which essentially would be a small premium for a universal healthcare plan.
The taxation would still be less than having to purchase health insurance either privately or through their employer.
The amount to pay into the plan should be scaled based upon the taxpayer’s incomes.
Anyone making less than the poverty level would not have to pay into the plan.
And people not in the poverty level could be charged a progressive rate that increases as their incomes increase.
The goal of the plan would be to obtain expenditures significantly lower than what the United States currently spends on healthcare.
Not only would it provide better healthcare, but it would even help decrease the current deficit in the United States and prevent people from going without healthcare.
I don't think the legislative branch has the will to tackle this in a comprehensive way as you suggest.
But, it is nice to think about it and believe they have our best interests at heart.
David Gjerdingen
45 tweets admiration of NASCAR and fans. White
ReplyDeletePittsburg Penguins to visit WH. White
NFL, NBA are on his sh.. list. Black
MLB no comment.
If he is not dividing country on racial lines. I don't know what to think.
On a positive note, he has started an important conversation.