Health Insurance: Get It Done Right

Health insurance for ALL is worth going to the wall. Just read Jonathan Alter's satire on keeping health care as it is in the Huffington Post and you will understand the gaping holes in our present system. Give me Canada, France, UK, and toss in the Scandinavian countries as well. Our present system hinders and prevents full coverage for all people, and its cost is driving us further into debt, as well as ringing alarm bells about the future viability of Medicare and Medicaid. So what ought we do? I would propose the following:

1. Insist on a public option. This will stimulate competition with the private insurance companies which will in turn lower costs. The public option is similar to Medicare and Medicaid, and is no more "socialistic" than them. Indeed, the cry of socialism is a canard to scare folks into keeping the present system.
2. Learn to control costs by learning from the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota public health strategies, the Cleveland Clinic, and the state of Utah. Each tends to focus on preventive care.
3. Explore the value of community clinics which bring health care to the people and are better equipped to offer early preventative and cheaper care. The Twin Cities and San Francisco offer such care with a significant cost savings
4. Emphasize fee for health rather than fee for procedure. Keeping people healthy is cheaper than curing their ills. Besides, it is more fun being healthy!
5. Insist on employer-employee health coverage which will include the public option, again lessening costs. Insist that all people must have health insurance.
6. Insist that pre-conditions will not prevent one from getting health insurance coverage.
7. Insist that contracting an illness will not force you off of your health insurance.
8. Significantly lower the cost of malpractice insurance. Paying for MI significantly increases the costs doctors charge to patients.
9. Consider putting doctors on salary as I believe is done at the Cleveland Clinic.
10. Insist on no cuts in Medicare and Medicaid. Costs for these services can be significantly lessened by instituting the above suggestions.
11. Insist that it is time to insure ALL people. It is not moral to leave 47 million people out of the health care system.
12. Consider a tax increase to help pay for the services. We need to evaluate our financial priorities. We cannot have everything we want. We need to focus on what we need. Health care is not free, and it is central to our quality of life.

Bi-partisanship may well be impossible in getting quality health care reform. So be it! It is time to get it done right. In the end, the single payer systems are superior to our system, and the closer we move towards this type of care the better. It is important that we contact our Senators and Representatives during this time to voice our preferences. Indeed, President Obama needs to hear our voices, because his cooperative, bi-partisan leadership style may prevent necessary change. He needs to put his moral muscle behind true reform. The greatest sadness would be a watered down reform. Furthermore, it is important for us to go public whenever possible to counter the forces against reform. We need to attend public meetings, write letters to the editor, call talk radio, and ....

72% of the American people want health care reform. The forces of fear, disinformation campaigns, and the greed of many corporations will fight against change. Now is the time to stand up. I recall a wonderful hymn: "O Christ, the Healer, We Have Come". We are Christ's healers in this time and place.

Peace!
Ron