HEALTH CARE PLAN: AN HONEST DISCUSSION

The beginning of this post will address some of my major concerns and upsets with the way things currently are and appear to be headed. Then, I’ll discuss what I really think we need in a new health care plan instead of this not-so-cleverly-disguised attempt at oppression and socialism. Long before the messiah Obama appeared on the scene, all of us recognized that health care costs were soaring, premiums were soaring, and loving and caring professionals were leaving the practice of medicine in droves. We didn’t need the new guy to come along and hit us over the head with the fact that “change” needed to be made.

We’re not "stupid" either, although he has called us many worse names. We knew that malpractice insurance was driving people out of the profession because it was cutting into their living. We also knew that the increase in malpractice insurance was due to the fact that there were too many lawyers in their profession winning absurd judgments. We knew that, although drug companies deserve a reasonable return on their research, we and the insurance companies were getting raped in the process.

Those things we knew to be true and we wanted them corrected.

Along came the “messiah,” who decreed that he was going to fix things. He was going to fix things HIS way, whether we wanted them fixed THAT way, or not. And he was not about to listen to anyone who disagreed with HIS way or who offered THEIR way. Congress simply bought into his charisma and decrees without question. Anyone and everyone who has sought to slow this travesty down and to insert some sanity into the discussion has been summarily booed off the stage.

Hundreds of thousands of Americans, those of us who know what has to be done and what a simple fix it really is, showed up at Town Hall meetings and in Washington to protest. More than one Member of Congress said they did not have to listen, and at least one refused to hold a Town Hall meeting at all. Our President called us “political terrorists,” and “Un-American.” He sternly told us to “shut up and get out of the way,” and he made no secret of the fact that he doesn’t care what we had to say in the Town Hall meetings, he is going to have his way.

In the process, our President lies. He tells horrible untruths and spreads a wealth of misinformation while accusing us who have read the current Congressional Bills of spreading misinformation.

1. He told us that there was no “end of life” consultation that would be forced upon our seniors, he turned around and reinstated such mandatory consultations with retired military personnel, and then Congress agreed to negate “the provision that never was.”

2. He promised transparency, but the 1,000 page House version of the Bill was passed before anyone was given the opportunity to read it. In fact, it was recently proposed that the Senate version of the Bill be posted on the Internet at least 72 hours before the Senate vote is taken so that the public has a chance to view it, and the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, managed to kill that proposal, thereby allowing the Senate to vote on it without allowing the public to see it. This sets the stage for an immediate House vote and passage and the President to sign it into law before the public knows the contents.

3. Harry Reid has fully promised that he will invoke the clause that will allow the Bill to pass with a simple majority of 51%, and he doesn’t care what anybody thinks.

4. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has bullied the House into abandoning compromises in the House version worked out by a key committee and will insist that the so-called “public option” be included in their final version.

5. The Senate version contains a stipulation that anyone refusing to buy insurance will be fined $1,900 and, should they refuse to pay the fine, they can be sentenced to a year in jail and fined an additional $25,000.

6. Obama has insisted that the new plan will not cost Americans one more dime. Yet, he proposes to cut Medicare by $500 billion and to discontinue Medicare Advantage. Further, he plans to force seniors into the government –run “public option” at a higher cost than Medicare Advantage if they want to cover any of the gaps that Medicare doesn’t cover and, even then, benefits will be reduced. The result: higher costs for less coverage. The CBO, by the way, agrees that Medicare will be severely curtailed.

7. Despite the promise of savings, your wallet will get thinner. Where will the money come from for employers and businesses to cover their employees? A higher cost of goods and services to you will be the result.

8. Both the President and the Congress have flatly refused to address the issues of malpractice “tort reform.” That means we are going to pay more for less coverage and the attorneys will continue to get rich.

9. Neither the President nor the Congress will go after the drug companies, meaning they will continue to realize exorbitant profits at our expense.

10. We will have continued shortages of medical personnel, meaning eventual rationed health care, because government-run health care will pay lower fees for medical services, meaning lower income to doctors and nurses who will continue to be faced with rising malpractice insurance costs.

There’s a whole lot more on my plate of disagreements with “Obamacare.”

These are some of my requests and desires for a good, solid change to the status quo in health care:

1. Tort reform

2. Make health insurance portable

3. Provide for those on unemployment insurance to also have their health care insurance premiums covered

3. Provide educational incentives for students to enter the medical field

4. Put a cap on the profits that drug companies can make, while still allowing them a reasonable rate of return for research AND, allow Canadian pharmacies to sell to Americans

5. Make insurance affordable; have actuarial studies of anticipated losses, and apply a profit margin percentage within which insurance companies must operate.

6. Break up health care conglomerates, companies who insure, own hospitals or pharmaceutical companies, and companies who have essentially controlled the entire health provision stream.

7. Provide for a transfer of medical responsibility from the doctor to the patient, by requiring that patients must actively participate in health decisions by being fully informed of alternative treatments, procedures, and outcome prognosis and that the patient select the method of care, as opposed to the provider.

8. Provide incentives for the patient to help reduce the costs of health care.

9. Protect seniors by allowing them to keep the Medicare and Medicare Advantage policies they currently have and at their current rates.

10. Continue the current method of dealing with those who are not insured and who seek medical treatment at hospital emergency rooms: either they pay cash up front or they get only emergency medical care. Hospitals will be allowed to increase their charges to other patients to cover such justified expenses, thereby increasing the costs to insurance companies which will be absorbed by policy holders, as is currently the case.

My proposals and requirements do not call for an increased cost to the public on top of already horrendous tax obligations heaped upon us by the runaway spending of this and the prior Administration. They do not allow for more government intervention into our lives. However, they do provide for a closer working relationship between insurers, patients and providers and the promise of resolving our health care issues for everyone, (except illegals).

That's MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.