The debate over whether we should institute a
system of national healthcare or not is misleading.
National healthcare insurance is something that
we already have. We just do it at a very high cost and in the most inefficient
way possible. Any person without health insurance in this country ends up going
to the emergency room. The idea that these people go to the emergency and are
getting something for free is not right. It is true that hospitals cannot turn
anyone away but it is also true that hospitals don't treat people for free. The
treatment of poor people in our emergency room is paid for but obviously not by
the guy who has no money. The
government, you and I pay for the care of the poor. The charges are just hidden
in higher insurance rates and taxes. Hospitals jack-up charges to people with
insurance so their rates go up and the government subsidizes hospitals for
treating uninsured patients so taxes go up.
The
idea being floated around by some politicians that we can't afford national
health insurance is absolute lie. Most of the industrialized countries in the
world seem to be able to afford some form of national healthcare and the
The Pay of a few insurance CEOs not including
stock options.
Anthem
CEO Joseph Swedish: $13.5 million
Cigna
CEO David Cordani: $14.5 milion
Humana
CEO Bruce Broussard: $10.1 million
The
other phony idea floating around is that national health insurance will crush
our businesses, that too is a lie. Our businesses would be aided by having
national health insurance paid system. Businesses in every country that has
national healthcare do not have to put employee health insurance into the cost
of their production keeping the price of their goods down. If healthcare was
treated the same other national costs like infrastructure and defense then our
companies would be more competitive with other companies in the world.
If the insurance company taking millions of
dollars off of the top of the cost of our health insurance isn't enough to
convince you that we should have some form of national healthcare the following
should.
We have all seen the people out there
marching around saying they didn't want the government getting between them and
their doctor. That is a lie put forward by the insurance industry. It is the
insurance industry that gets between you and your doctor by means of their
preferred provider list. You've heard of the preferred provider list, you have
to pick your doctors from a list of doctors approved by your insurance company.
The reason those doctors are on the preferred provider list is that they follow
the insurance companies dictates as to what tests and treatments they will
allow. If the doctor doesn't follow what the insurance company dictates to
them, they will be dropped from for provider list. A doctors success depends on
being on the preferred provider lists of the insurance companies in their area.
So it is not the government that is getting between you and your doctor it is insurance
companies.
It is the insurance company and their greed
for more and more profit that is getting between you and your doctor. It is not
a hard equation to figure out a company is put together to make money.
If your
concern is lack of quality of the care - Insurance companies are more concerned
with profits and the bottom line of the company, not the efficiency of your
healthcare. If you're concerned you will have fewer options, there are many
examples that refute any worries there. The
So in conclusion you get better healthcare
outcomes /quality. You have the option to buy additional insurance if you want
it. National healthcare makes our companies more competitive by leveling the
playing field with other nations that have national insurance. National healthcare saves us all money because
we are paying four times more than any other nation that have national
healthcare.