Jul 15 2009
Pay It Forward
Short of living in a vacuum, it would be hard not to notice that the supposed health care reform is making the rounds on Capitol Hill. President Obama did pledge reform for health care and the debate is well under way. There are already bills being presented and debated on in the House so it’s safe to say that it’s coming sooner rather than later. Never has an issue caused such intense debate in this country.
Everyone in this country has a stake in this. For the average citizen like myself, it’s a chance to have health coverage regardless of circumstances as I have been without health insurance before. For health insurance companies, it could mean the end of their business as we know it. If not the end, then a greatly reduced bottom line as they get mandated to do things they might not do otherwise such as denying coverage for someone who costs too much. For health care providers, it could mean that all these people who file into emergency rooms and clinics will have at least some form of basic coverage. That translates into more money for providers as there is a lot of care provided for free or at least on the public dime since there are so many without any kind of coverage at all.
One part of the discussion that seems rather muted in my opinion is what this universal coverage is going to cost. If you look at other countries with universal coverage like Canada or the UK, they have higher taxes to cover those costs. Everyone in the U.S. wants this coverage but no one wants to talk about raising our taxes to have it. Estimates being thrown around now estimate costs not in millions or billions of dollars, but many trillions. Even for this country, that’s no small amount of change we are dealing with. On top of that, we have all these other programs the current administration wants to pour billions of dollars into on top of what it would cost for universal health care. Every dollar adds up and it leaves the public at large with the impression that our money supply is endless. The concept of scarcity applies even to the Treasury of the U.S.
There are some basic assumptions you have to accept before getting your head completely around the idea of universal care. First is that since we will all have to pay for it in some way (with the rich paying more which is what the Democrats want), we would need to accept that getting more than we have now would require us to pay more to get it. The second is that we would be expecting top notch care for our money. It’s already becoming apparent that we will all not be paying the same amount for health care. Those who have more will pay more, those who have less will pay less. As for quality of care, no one is sure how a universal system will affect care in the future. Some would claim that the care provided would be diluted with longer waits for specialists, etc. Time will certainly tell.
As an average citizen, all I ask in this is that we put something reasonable together. I have very good health care coverage under my current employer but I wonder how long that will last. If I have another option available, it should be reasonably priced with at least some basic care. That I feel could be a reasonable investment in the health and well being of our nation’s citizens.
The profits made in our capitalist medical system create more of an incentive to research cures and develop new medicines. Those incentives do not exist in socialized medicine.
The government has not properly run anything it has ever created. My concerns are strong. Hopefully they do not try to push this first version through congress. This cannot be rushed. They want to rush it because their will be an unpopular response to the details they are currently glossing over.
I don’t have any problem with the government trying to help more people have insurance. There are far too many who either don’t have it or have very poor coverage. I have been in both situations in the past (I have excellent insurance now). Your point about the government not properly running anything it has ever created is right on the mark. They end up making a big bureaucratic mess out of everything. As for profits, although they can create the incentives you mention they can also cause people to be excluded from care that probably should not be.
There are so many issues that still need long and careful debate. I’m glad the debate is under way, but I am concerned that in the haste to come up with something we will have make a big mess out of it that benefits no one.