Justin Smith has some thoughts on Free Market insurance care
as opposed to government single payer insurance.
JRH 3/27/17
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Bury Obamacare
By Justin O. Smith
Sent 3/26/2017 2:13 PM
Americans cannot gain affordable healthcare through the U.S.
government and laws like the disastrous Obamacare or the Ryancare fiasco. They
must look towards private sectors, free market based solutions and patient
controlled healthcare plans that move Americans far away from an unsustainable,
terribly inefficient and rapidly approaching government controlled single payer
system. And Congressmen and Senators and any U.S. President, current or future,
must remove all roadblocks to this course, if, as many profess, affordable
healthcare for Americans is truly their goal.
America didn't have $2.6 trillion when Obamacare passed, and
it doesn't have the $2.3 trillion that Ryancare demanded. It is immoral and bad
leadership to put such a debt on the backs of American taxpayers, since most of
the money goes to the bureaucracy, does not provide timely or even good
healthcare and too often never makes it to the patients in need. Overspending,
in such a manner, for a healthcare insurance program that does not deliver real
care is not a solution.
Initially in 2010, Republicans promised to repeal Obamacare,
but gradually their promise evolved to "repeal and replace". Forget
replacing Obamacare. Congress must repeal Obamacare completely. Bury Obamacare.
With health insurance deductibles averaging approximately
$7000, 6.5 million Americans decided to pay the penalty last year. Millions of
other Americans pay premiums but don't go to the doctor due to high
deductibles; and now millions more of Americans will soon be left without any
insurance, because the Obamacare exchanges are imploding as insurance companies
abandon them.
Ryancare [American Health Care Act] didn't offer much
improvement over Obamacare, so it was fortunate that it failed to gain complete
Republican support, which forced its withdrawal on March 24th, after five hours
of discussion. The AHCA replaced the individual mandate and tax penalty with a
thirty percent insurance premium surcharge for anyone buying insurance after a
lapse in coverage. The AHCA simply placed Obamacare's unreasonable and odious
Cadillac Tax on hold until 2025. It also offered another form of income
redistribution called "tax credits". And in the end, Ryancare
achieved no improvement in access to health care for Americans.
But government provided health insurance is not a right.
Under Article I Section 8 of the Constitution,
there isn't any federal power or duty to ensure "universal health care
coverage".
However, as a start, let the free market fill the void and
work for all. Advocate for the removal of cost prohibitive federal and state
insurance regulatory mandates and all impediments to purchase health insurance
across state lines. This will create competition, that will drive the cost of
insurance and healthcare down and improve the quality of services, benefitting
all and opening doors for any American who wants real Health Care.
Privately insured Americans must also end their practice of
filing health insurance claims for every little sniffle they experience. When
the majority of Americans use their health insurance to pay for only real
medical necessities and emergencies, lowering the cost to companies, health
insurance will become more affordable for all Americans.
And, since ninety percent of Americans spend less than $5000
on healthcare annually, people should comparative shop for health insurance and
healthcare plans just like they would for a car. Self-paying patients are
regularly charged 25 to 90 percent less than insured patients, so always ask
any provider for the lowest possible price for someone un-insured.
Another option is Direct Primary Care (DPC). Under this
model, a patient pays a fixed monthly amount, often as little as $50, and
receives a high level of access to their regular doctor. They receive
diagnostic testing and preventative and minor emergency procedures. The DPC
model also arranges for other services that have been deeply discounted and
pre-negotiated, like an MRI for $400. The DPC is quality health care for the
average American that even provides specialists at a fraction of the cost of an
insurance model.
Our government, however benevolent it may seem, is incapable
of identifying who should qualify for free medical services, even if that was a
proper government role. Obamacare's expansion of Medicaid reveals the veracity
of this assertion.
According to the original 1965 law, Medicaid was designed to
be a state administered program for those "unable to support ... their medical needs".
But Obamacare now allows able-bodied poor and young Americans to utilize this
program, even though it is currently very near bankrupt. The quality and
availability of the healthcare received through its networks is also inferior.
Those Americans opposed to repealing Obamacare often ask,
"What will happen to people with pre-existing illnesses?"
Anyone with pre-existing conditions could not be denied
medical treatment under U.S. law prior to Obamacare, and many received care
through "high risk pools" available in 35 states. If they cannot
afford non-group health insurance, they will still not be denied medical
attention after Obamacare is repealed, which leaves them to pay a medical bill
or seek charity.
Americans will receive care one way or another; no one
person should lose sleep over this. Americans turn themselves inside out to
help each other. Hope Clinic [Murfreesboro, TN], and Vanderbilt's Children's
Hospital and St. Jude's Children's Hospital bear testament to this, among many
others.
When did Americans become so dependent on Uncle Sam? Can we
no longer act independently for ourselves -- take care of ourselves?
Top of the line affordable health care is within the reach
of all Americans, but if we are to take hold of it, we must quit paying any
price insurance companies demand for premiums and doctors and hospitals demand
for services, negotiating cheaper health care prices across the board. We must
use our uninhibited creative energy to ensure timely access to quality care
programs, as we also remove government obstacles to innovation from our health
care system. And through free market initiatives healthcare costs will
dramatically drop, efficiency within the system will increase and a new surplus
of funds will provide care for our needy.
By Justin O. Smith
__________________
Edited by John R. Houk
Source links are by the
Editor.
© Justin O. Smith
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