Health Care or "I CAN'T PAY THAT!!!!"

It seems that health care is the one thing we can't live with and can't live without.

Everyone wants to go to the doctor when they're sick. They want Mama on life support if there's still a chance she'll change her will and leave all the money to the kids instead of the cats. Except there isn't any money left.

Guess what?

We can't afford to be healthy and we can't afford to be sick.

Being really ill today and just requiring transport to an emergency room can cost a thousand dollars. Plus the emergency room bill, plus the doctor's bill, plus the incidentals. Paying out of pocket means emptying the bank account or taking out a loan.

So the conventional response is 'Everyone needs health insurance' which is a possible solution, but if everyone's bills are getting paid than someone has to pay for them. Insurance spreads the cost among a small group of insured. The insurance 'industry' (they're an industry just the casinos are...) selects its customers so that the ones with the highest requirement for payouts aren't covered, therefore making the business profitable. Or they limit to the broader audience just what they will pay.... again leaving the people who need help paying the bill out of pocket.

So we look to the government for a solution, but the government solutions are littered with backroom deals and compromised ideas that are so broken they can no longer be functional. And when we need the help, we're still left holding the bag.

The answer, at least from my simple perspective, is to decide en masse, that is as the body politic, what we want from our health care system.

So here are some thoughts. Let's do away with health insurance. No employer paid health insurance no medicare, medicaid. Nothing. Cash and carry. Now the hospitals can' t turn you away so you get treated but what happens when you can't pay? Do they force you into bankruptcy and garnishee your wages for the next dozen years? Oh,... that's what happens now when you lose your employer sponsored health insurance, work at a job without health benefits that disqualifies you and your family from medicaid, or if you have a pre-existing condition (including pregnancy).

We could make health insurance universal. Everyone pays enough to cover all of the health care costs, and the guaranteed profits of the insurance companies. Think of Uncle Guido, you know that Italian uncle with all the cash who never seems to work, and who can make people disappear? Him. The insurance companies assume no risk because they are guaranteed new customers every year and everyone has to pay. Nice deal  huh?

Or We could collectively insure ourselves. That is we all pay in to the pot and we all get our bills paid. Everybody pays, every body is covered and we empower Uncle Sam to stop cheats and scam artists.

The first question is do we want health care for all? If the answer is yes than lets find the most efficient solution. If the answer is no, then get rid of the vultures and lets go back to native medicines.... but wait, that's the subject of another discussion.