The Health Care Reform Rumble

This a strong possibility that there will be some kind of health care reform bill signed into law by President Obama before the end of the year.  If there is no bill passed for a change in the system we now have in place, which is putting unnecessary financial burdens on individuals and businesses, when covering their employees medical care, the Democrats will certainly pay the short term price. The Democratic party controls the presidency, the House of Representatives and the Senate, it is their responsibility to implement serious change to the current health care system.  The Republicans appear to have no interest in helping the Democrats implement a change in health care, they are currently being obstructionist, to something, which will ultimately be good for many people, and bring down the cost of health care coverage in the long run. The total cost of putting the change in place will be a huge increase in the deficit, but over time the reduction in waste, fraud and abuse, if checked will save millions in overall cost. The balance of the estimated one trillion dollars for the changes, will have to be some kind of tax increase, which is yet to be worked out.

Those people who attend the health care town hall meetings and rail against those, mostly Democrats, trying to explain what the health care changes will be, do not appear to understand that, they will be the losers, if the system is not changed. The Republicans have done an effective job of scaring people, into believing that the government is going to take over and control their lives which is not the truth. One woman at a town hall meeting supposedly stood up and shouted “I want the government to keep its hands off my Medicare!” Kind of impossible since the government runs Medicare and we don’t hear many people begging to give up their Medicare coverage. Which means, of course that it is a semi-socialistic program the same as Social Security and has been for years. But some people allow themselves to be fed information which has no factual basis and form opinions which can hurt them in the long run. The Republicans, for the most part , there are some Democrats who are not fully on board, have stirred up people, who do not have a full understanding that they are working against themselves, when they resist change which will be financially beneficial to them, as well as to their physical health and well being.

The final model for reform, has not been determined, but the essential parts as outlined in reports, include, but are not limited to, individuals not being excluded from receiving health care coverage due to pre-existing conditions,an individual will not lose their health care coverage if they change their job, am employer will have to maintain an employees coverage for at least five years after they are no longer an employee. A public option is currently being debated, but is supposed to be a part of the change, so that individuals will have a choice between the public option, which will be subsidized by the Federal Government, and the private insurance choices. If an individual has private insurance and they are satisfied with their coverage, they will not have to make any changes. There will not be any changes to Medicare as it exists, according to reports. There is a discussion of  possibly having co-op health care coverage, but these would reportedly be regional and would need five-hundred thousand people in the plans to be effective, which most reports state would not be feasible. Currently there are a reported forty-million people without health care coverage, millions more have coverage, but are forced to file bankruptcy due to excessive cost of medical bills. I personally went to the  emergency room at the hospital for an allergic reaction and subsequently received a bill for over five-hundred dollars, thought that was bad enough, a second bill arrived for over four-hundred dollars. Basically my visit included the doctors not knowing what was wrong with me and giving me a prescription for a steroid, which I did not take. Second unfortunate incident involved a stay in the hospital for about six days, and an eventual bill totaling forty-eight thousand dollars, which nearly made me fall off my chair. Personally, something needs to be done with the whole thing. The United States is, as far as I know, the only country which does not provide health care coverage for its citizens. Maybe universal coverage is a bridge too far, but some sensible reform needs to be undertaken.

Both parties need to do some soul searching and get this done and soon, other things need the attention of the president, and the Congress. Major companies such as Whyte have been charged with billions of dollars of Medicaid fraud in the recent past, charging the government for drugs never used, or administered. There were a group of people locally who were collaborating while working at a major hospital in the area, charging Medicare with bills which were non-existent, most of the people are in jail now. These things go on all over the country, due to greed. The Senate, both Democrats and Republicans are reportedly guilty of receiving millions of dollars in  campaign contributions from private insurance company lobbyists, who wish to keep everything the way it is, no competition from other entities which would cause them to lower their premium cost which would lower their bottom line profit which is in the billions. There has to be an honest effort to change the system which will ultimately bankrupt  the existing system. Leadership is required and those who are supposed to be working for the  good of the people need to step up and do the right thing for all. Writing your Senator or Congressman would be a pro-active thing to do to help move the process forward, send the President a letter or e-mail as well. It is well past time for a change in the current system.