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National Health Insurance and My conversation with Mr. Bleeding Heart Liberal
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or Q & Eing My SELF
Self: OK BHL , your President is pushing for some sort of National Health care. Isn’t this socialism?
BHL : Yes, but that doesn’t make it bad, or good. Socialism is just a word and as you know, many words have multiple definitions. Some people hear the word socialism and they think Communists, government ownership of everything, the death of entrepreneurial incentives, and death from b ureaucracy and the tyranny of red tape. Others see it as just a word, a name for any governmental program where the government takes money from the citizens and in turn spends that money on some service used by some, most, or all of the citizens. The truth is our roads, our schools, or police departments, and fire departments, and social security, and Medicare, etc. are all socialistic by definition, but must of us wouldn't want to eliminate them.
Self: I don’t like socialism. I think people should be responsible for themselves and no one should be forced to take what they worked hard to get and to give it away to some lazy lump of useless human flesh.
BHL : That is the question isn’t it. This sounds a little like when Cain asks God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Bible doesn’t record God’s reply, but I think God would’ve said, “Uh, yeah. You are.” We are human’s not animals. We care for one another. We are our brother’s keeper.
Self: So that means I have to pay for insurance for people who are too lazy to work, or who have no insurance, and yet they eat trans-fats and smoke filter less cigarettes? Why should I take care of the lazy and the stupid?
BHL : You’ve just reduced something complicated into something simple. There are 44 million Americans living without insurance, and eight out of ten of these uninsured are working Americans or their dependents. Are you in favor of letting babies die because their working parent has no health insurance through their employers? Another 38 million American’s have inadequate health insurance. Having no health insurance, or having lousy health insurance causes people to postpone necessary care, to go without their medication, and to forego preventive care. People will not refill meds, or take a pill every other day when it is suppose to be taken twice a day. Some parents are forced to pick between paying their rent, or having food in the house, by postponing childhood immunizations and eliminating routine check-ups-completely.
Self: They should work harder, get better jobs, or they shouldn’t have children. Why should I be forced to provide for children when their parents never should have had the kids in the first place?
BHL : It seems odd to me that the people who hold opinions like yours often are the same people that oppose birth control and abortion. They are unwilling to prevent pregnancy, or to allow pregnancies to be aborted, but you are not will to help care for these children you have forced into existence.
According to the Census Bureau, in 2007, there were 8.1 million uninsured children in the US . Nearly 8 million young adults (those aged 18-24), were uninsured, representing 28.1% of their population. Young adults make up the largest age segment of the uninsured, are the most likely to be uninsured, and are one of the fastest growing segments of the uninsured population. They often lose coverage under their parents' health insurance policies or public programs when they reach age 19. Others lose coverage when they graduate from college. Many young adults do not have the kind of stable employment that would provide ongoing access to health insurance.
Self: They can go to the ER if they have to.
BHL : Having the uninsured using the ER for health care is part of the health care problem. Delaying care because you are afraid you won’t be able to pay your medical bills is a downward spiral that leads to higher health care costs for all of us. Don’t you realize that more than one third of all uninsured adults say that they have problems paying their bills. What would you do if you needed to see a doctor but knew you couldn’t pay the bill?
Self: I’d wait to see the doctor. I’d save up.
BHL : Exactly. And this wait explain why so many of the uninsured don't seek out the care they need until the last minute. But when an uninsured person is in crisis and cannot pay, they go to the ER and now the burden of cost falls on the insured population, and on the hospitals, and on the doctors and on the the government. And these billions of dollars of " uncompensated care " drive up health insurance premiums for everyone.
Self: They could borrow. If it is an emergency they should put it on a credit card.
BHL : For a guy advocating that people make smart choices you just suggested a big ole dumb choice. In a recent study by Harvard University researchers found that the average out-of-pocket medical debt for those who filed for bankruptcy was $12,000. This same study noted that 68 percent of those who filed for bankruptcy had health insurance, it just was poor coverage. The Harvard study also found that 50 percent of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses. Every 30 seconds in the United States someone files for bankruptcy in the aftermath of a serious health problem. Other studies show things like:
o About 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure every year due to unaffordable medical costs.
o More than 25 percent said that housing problems resulted from medical debt, including the inability to make rent or mortgage payments and the development of bad credit ratings.
o A survey of Iowa consumers found that in order to cope with rising health insurance costs, 86 percent said they had cut back on how much they could save, and 44 percent said that they have cut back on food and heating expenses.
o Yet another study concluded that retiring elderly couples will need $ 250,000 in savings just to pay for the most basic medical coverage. Other’s suggest that this figure is too conservative and that it will actually take more than $300,000 for an elderly couple to cover their health care costs after retirement.
Self: Yeah, and it’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. If it is expense, that’s just the way it is. It’s probably like that all over the world.
BHL : That’s where you are wrong. Again. According to a recent report, the United States has $480 billion in excess spending each year in comparison to Western European nations that have universal health insurance coverage. The costs are mainly associated with excess administrative costs and poorer quality of care. The truth is that the United States spends six times more per person on the administration of our health care system than is spent by our peer Western European nations.
Self: I’m tired of talking to you.
Article submitted Thursday, June 04, 2009 & read 423 times.
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