The way people pay for health care in the United States sucks. It is way too expensive. There are way too many variables to whether a person is actually going to get covered or not. I am like so many people who have had to pay outrageous prices for fairly simple procedures. Had I not had insurance, I would have actually paid less. I would have been able to negotiate. The insurance systems is confusing and unpredictable. Each company has a financial incentive to underpay for care, not pay the right amount.
Now the quality of care in the States is phenomenal. Mostly doctors care. Mostly nurses listen. Mostly they take the time get the diagnosis and care right. But It is shameful that people are going sick in our communities and not getting care. It is shameful that our neighbors have to choose food or medicine. It is shameful that people have to choose quality of care based on price and affordability. We are not talking about car repairs here. We are talking about taking care of human beings. I tend to look for local solutions rather that larger central government projects, but since the local communities and states were not effectively addressing this issue, I guess it is better that the federal government did.
What I like
I like that fact that people can take insurance with them from job to job. If they do become unemployed, they will still be able to get health care. Talk about kicking a person when they are down. Fire them and then take their insurance.
No more pre-existing conditions clause!! That is one of the most inhumane ideas ever. It totally puts the companies bottom line ahead of the health of the individual. People are penalized because they have diabetes or hypothyroidism or heart disease.
I like the fact that all who want insurance can get it...no matter what. Everyone has the potential to be covered. And they cannot be dropped if they happen to get TOO sick!
What concerns me about the health care bill
I think there is a real issue with the constitutionality of requiring someone to buy something as a citizen of the United States. I believe this will be challenged in the Supreme Court and mostly will be cut from the bill. I shouldn't have to have insurance or be face with a fine in order to live in the United States and go to private hospitals.
I also think this bill could be challenged on the constitutional grounds that the Federal Government only regulates commerce between states. Currently insurance cannot be purchased across state lines. There is not interstate commerce, so the tenth amendment seems to me not to be applicable here.
Also along the same lines, not buying insurance is not commerce. So the federal government cannot regulate my not buying insurance. If I buy insurance across state lines then the federal government could regulate it.
I do not trust the accuracy of the preliminary CBO report on the cost/savings of the health bill. These things are notoriously inaccurate. That said...we ought to pay a price to take care of each other, but I want the price to be manageable with the current national economic situation.
I did not like the way this bill was passed. It is highly controversial
and received bi-partisan opposition. Currently this is not the will of
the American people. This bill ought to have been handled
differently. Both sides allowed politics to come before country. Ultimately we got a watered down, anemically supported bill with no
teeth.
I do not think this bill goes far enough to help bring down the price of health care. It does not allow interstate commerce of health insurance. Without competition what incentive do insurance companies have to lower premiums? Even if more people flood the market, as this bill will likely cause, couldn't the insurance companies just keep prices high?
.
Conclusion
This bill did not go far enough. Ultimately to fix our current health care problems, we need to nationalize the entire health system. Of course this would cause a whole new set of issues, but every one would be guaranteed care. This is not preferable, but we have not taken care of our neighbors. Our communities have allowed people to die without giving them the care they need. We have failed, Our states have not adequately addressed the problem. Many states are having problems just staying in business now. The insurance companies have failed. They have run the show since Nixon. They have preyed upon the weak and discarded the poor. They have played fast and hard with our nations health. Their credibility is not worth the paper this blog is written on. They had their chance and failed. They put their own interest above the interest of the common good and preferred their own prosperity to the health of the community.
Will a national health care system bankrupt our nation? Maybe, but this is a false choice. There are many decisions between now and bankruptcy. Could the U.S.A. do a better job at national health care than Canada, or the UK or France? Hell yeah! Let's not compare ourselves to them.
Now unlike what Speaker Pelosi said the other night, our Declaration of Independence does not talk about health care for all. Even if it did, it would not be enough to guarantee it in our laws. We would need a constitutional amendment guaranteeing health care for all citizens. This could be done, but it would take time.
What do you think about this?
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