Health Care Conundrum

Honestly, I’ve spent the day trying to figure out what the hell is so hard about national health care. Why does this present such a problem that we have to spend more than a decade and millions of dollars talking about it without actually DOING anything.

The argument presented by the corporate-run right is that a “public” health care option will pose a threat to private insurance companies. What I can’t figure out is that they actually say this as if it’s a BAD thing. But, okay. Let’s say that’s true. It’s not, by the way. Both England and Canada have both a public health care system and thriving private insurers.

So here’s the way that I think that it should go, if anyone’s interested.

At your basic tier, you have the public health care option. This is BASIC health care, provided to every American, free of charge PERIOD. On this health care plan there would be no voluntary procedures, such as plastic surgery, Viagra, anti-smoking pills or anti-fat pills. Yes, yes, howl socialism all that you want. I view it as more of a Christian imperative. Christ demanded that we care for one another, and frankly we’re doing a piss-poor job of it. Think of this first tier as a parachute. You’d much rather be riding in the airplane, but… failing that… it can save your life.

On top of that would be the tier that we now know. This is where the private insurers fit in. The argument is that, if a public health care option is available, people who currently have private insurance will give it up to suckle from the government teat. I can tell you, folks, that as far as I’m concerned that’s about as far from true as it can get. If there were a severely stripped and compromised public health care option available, or I could keep my Aetna coverage for what I pay for it every month, I’m keeping Aetna. I may have had my disagreements and run-ins with them over the years, but basically they’ve been pretty good to me. A little nuts – for instance, my diabetes lancets cost around $8.50 off the shelf, but the insurance co-pay on them is $10 – but basically pretty good to me.

Another aspect of this would be that businesses over a certain size would be REQUIRED to provide decent health insurance to their employees. And no, I’m not talking about burdening small business with this. That’s why you place a certain size restriction on it. If you have more than… to give a random figure… 5000 employees, you cease being a “small” business and have to start providing good health insurance. And what about small businesses? Any small business that voluntarily provided good health insurance to their employees would be showered with tax exemptions. Not the big guys. Wal*Mart will be fine without the billions of dollars in corporate hand-outs that they receive every year. They’ll still be around. Like a cockroach. But small, upstart businesses, like Sam Walton’s little five and dime was when it started, will be given the advantages that they need to succeed. One friend of mine argued that this would prevent small businesses owners from wanting to “grow” their business. Really? So I’m going to keep myself from accruing wealth at some point simply because I have to provide health insurance to my employees? I don’t bloody well think so.

Oh, on a side note… I also think that American businesses doing business overseas would have to play by OUR rules. They are American, after all. They would have to pay American minimum wage to their employees WHEREVER they are. They would be required to provide health insurance. Our pollution laws would apply to them, so they couldn’t enslave Chinese kids or poison the Yangtzee river anymore than they could enslave AMERICAN kids or poison the MISSISSIPPI river.

So can someone please tell me what’s so God-damned HARD about this before I go CRAZIER trying to figure it out?

Peace.

Randal