![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Healthcareless Industry
Jul. 18th, 2006 06:16 pmI had lunch today with a good friend I hadn't seen in a long time. I was immediately reminded why I really enjoyed her company, and made a note to myself (and a comment out loud) that we should really see each other more often. She is delightful company. You see, we stand diametrically opposed on most political issues, but we can carry on a genuinely friendly and spirited conversation and actually listen to each other.
She is a dyed-in-the-wool libertarian conservative.
Our conversation inevitably turned to healthcare as she told me that her husband (both as conservative and as affable as she, by the way) was back in the hospital. Oddly, when I began talking about the nationalized healthcare system in Australia, she commented that something like that would be great for the US!
I did a double-take. Such a comment coming from her was like hearing Bush suggest an Iraqi withdrawal timetable. She then added, however, that it would have to be different than Canada's system because those poor Canadians are forced to pay 30% of their income toward their healthcare system.
One of the biggest misconceptions we suffer in this country is the stealth nature of the cost of health care. She, like most Americans, did not realize that she was already paying that amount or more. The only difference is that she doesn't see it.
Here's the breakdown as provided by The National Coalition on Healthcare (these are 2004 figures):
-The average yearly premium an employer pays for a family of four is $10,800 (full-time minimum wage earnings would have been $10,712).
-The average employee pays $2,713 on top of that.
-retiring elderly couples need at least $200,000 to pay for the most basic medical coverage
-healthcare spending in 2004 reached $1.9 trillion (the national debt is now just over 8 trillion)
Our healthcare system is not less expensive than that of Canada, but more expensive.
And what do we get for our money?
-50% of all bankruptcies are, at least in part, due to medical reasons. 68% of those undergoing bankruptcy actually have health insurance.
-every 30 seconds, someone in the US files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious medical problem.
-25% of housing problems, including inability to make rent or mortgage payments and bad credit ratings, had to do with healthcare issues.
We need to stop pretending that we can fix this shambles of a system and look at the systems that really do work. Why are we saddling employers with the cost of coverage? Why are we paying for dozens of insurance companies, each one requiring tons of discrete paperwork, making doctors into paper-pushing clerks instead of caregivers?
The saddest part of all is that the people who can actually act to fix this have no notion of the problem. Members of Congress believe we have a great healthcare system because their coverage is wonderful.
And so, I give you my proposal.
All members of Congress, as well as the the President and his staff, shall hereby be placed on Medicare. The premiums formerly paid to their insurers will be paid into the Medicare system.
If it's such a fantastic system, let them go on it.
She is a dyed-in-the-wool libertarian conservative.
Our conversation inevitably turned to healthcare as she told me that her husband (both as conservative and as affable as she, by the way) was back in the hospital. Oddly, when I began talking about the nationalized healthcare system in Australia, she commented that something like that would be great for the US!
I did a double-take. Such a comment coming from her was like hearing Bush suggest an Iraqi withdrawal timetable. She then added, however, that it would have to be different than Canada's system because those poor Canadians are forced to pay 30% of their income toward their healthcare system.
One of the biggest misconceptions we suffer in this country is the stealth nature of the cost of health care. She, like most Americans, did not realize that she was already paying that amount or more. The only difference is that she doesn't see it.
Here's the breakdown as provided by The National Coalition on Healthcare (these are 2004 figures):
-The average yearly premium an employer pays for a family of four is $10,800 (full-time minimum wage earnings would have been $10,712).
-The average employee pays $2,713 on top of that.
-retiring elderly couples need at least $200,000 to pay for the most basic medical coverage
-healthcare spending in 2004 reached $1.9 trillion (the national debt is now just over 8 trillion)
Our healthcare system is not less expensive than that of Canada, but more expensive.
And what do we get for our money?
-50% of all bankruptcies are, at least in part, due to medical reasons. 68% of those undergoing bankruptcy actually have health insurance.
-every 30 seconds, someone in the US files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious medical problem.
-25% of housing problems, including inability to make rent or mortgage payments and bad credit ratings, had to do with healthcare issues.
We need to stop pretending that we can fix this shambles of a system and look at the systems that really do work. Why are we saddling employers with the cost of coverage? Why are we paying for dozens of insurance companies, each one requiring tons of discrete paperwork, making doctors into paper-pushing clerks instead of caregivers?
The saddest part of all is that the people who can actually act to fix this have no notion of the problem. Members of Congress believe we have a great healthcare system because their coverage is wonderful.
And so, I give you my proposal.
All members of Congress, as well as the the President and his staff, shall hereby be placed on Medicare. The premiums formerly paid to their insurers will be paid into the Medicare system.
If it's such a fantastic system, let them go on it.
