The biggest issue I have with Mr. Obama's speech last night is this line:
"If Americans can't find affordable coverage, we will provide you with a choice."
Why is this entire debate about this abstract and amorphous thing called "coverage"? Shouldn't it be about health care? The fact is, this is not about health care and never has been. It's about how to make money with insurance "coverage" which the record will show has been the source of all our problems since we started paying them to pay our medical care. We have been hoodwinked and they will continue to rob us if this fundamental issue does not change. Yes, this might sound a bit different than previous language I have used. That language has focused primarily on the GOP stupid stick from which masochistic Americans seem to get their politio-erotic thrills.
I am done with trying to "fix" the very center of the problem. It's not that insurance is broken, it that it exists.
- Dislodge health insurance from businesses altogether to save business a lot of cash. Premiums are so high because they can be. A market is only as big as it's total sum of available cash. Squeeze the available cash, the market has to adjust.
- Everyone stop paying insurance premiums and start paying direct costs to physicians who perform the services. Those who fail, stop getting your business. Again, the market will adjust because you can use your common sense to dictate who is giving you the care you want. This will also reduce litigation because bad doctors will have to improve service or go out of business. Malpractice insurance for good doctors can now go down.
- Vote out all of your incumbent politicians and vote third party. They have all been bought by some corporate entity somewhere at sometime and no longer represent you, the consumer, and represent big third party companies and organizations who have inflated costs – again without any of your ability to control the flow of money into the system.
- Rebuild health care so that the poorest among us, those with the most debilitating illnesses, and the aging get tax incentives and subsidies that puts money in their hands to help float costs. If they don't use that money to pay for health bills and use if for a vacation or a car, you lose the benefit; just like insurance fraud, without the costly legislation and without insurance calling the shots. Use something like a good driver discount that auto insurers use, but for healthy people. The healthier you are, (e.g. the more preventative care you can substantiate like checking your testicles, mammograms, pap-smears, regular dental check-ups, blood tests, etc.) you get a tax break.
- Offer very low insurance for catastrophic care and set premiums not unlike auto insurers do. This is an "in case of emergency" safety net and nothing more. It's like a bank account really. For those who do not opt in, how about interest free loans to help defray costs? Many ways to help out here.
Think about this sort of free market system. Charities would have it so much easier to help people with health costs since right now they cannot possibly keep up with inflation and regulations. Doctors would be able to reduce costs in biotechnology and pharm by collaborating to reduce overhead. If they and the biotech industry do not cut costs and someone can get cheaper goods, they will get more business. Most importantly, bad behavior would not get rewarded. If someone is failing in their job as a physician, you better believe that someone else is going to get better business – just like auto repair.
As an aside, can you imagine if auto insurance, which is needed since car values depreciate exponentially, worked like health insurance? Not paying your favorite mechanic because he is "out of network" or paying him more because you are going "out of network"? Waiting six months to get your alternator replaced with a re-furbished unit because it is "experimental"?
The issue is that we are not deathly afraid of our cars breaking down, but we are deathly afraid of our own bodies. A tumor is more than an "inconvenience". Fear is what is killing us, not health care. Insurance and government are working hand in hand to perpetuate this fear that without "coverage" we will die. No, without care we will be sick and many more will die. How did we get to a point where someone else is dictating the level and cost of care? Isn't it time to put our health into our own hands again?
Related posts:
