Reform Is Essential
Health care reform is essential not only because our current health care system is broken as far as the health of the American people (we rank below every other western country in health care outcomes and we rank 50th in life expectancy) but because our current system will eventually bankrupt our entire economy if we don’t change it.
The US Spends More $ For Less Results
The US spends more on health care than any other nation in the world (by a large amount) and when considering our less than stellar health care outcomes & life expectancy that’s even more disturbing.
The Health Insurance Industry Is The Problem
The problem is the health insurance industry. They are running amok with little regulation. They are making outrageous profits (they are reporting record profits even in the midst of this recession) and they aren’t even doing what they should be as far as providing the coverage for the health care that people need. In fact, that’s a large part of the reason they make such huge profits. When a health insurance consumer gets particularly sick (ie they get particularly expensive) the health insurance companies look for any excuse to drop that consumer.
Their Profit Motive Is To Drop Coverage Of The Sick
The profit motive for the health insurance industry is in all of the wrong places. They make more money by not providing coverage to those who need it most.
When I talk about insurance companies dropping coverage for those who need their coverage the most, that should scare the hell out of you. This happens all of the time. But sadly most people don’t realize this is how the system works until it happens to them!
Lies About “Government Run Health Care”
Right now the health insurance industry is behind a lot of scare tactics (ie: LIES) about “government run health care” or “ObamaCare” but the truth is what’s really scary is what’s going on right now with out of control costs and sub-par health care results. “Pre-existing conditions” that stop people from getting the coverage they need. People who feel trapped at their jobs just to keep their health care. The system right now is royally screwed and anyone who says otherwise is either lying or ignorant.
Some Of The Most Common Lies
1. “A government bureaucrat will be between you and your doctor”
The truth is if you have private insurance then you have a health insurance bureaucrat between you and your doctor and their only concern is their profit, not your health. Remember that we already have government health care in this country in the form of Medicare and doctors report having far fewer issues/interference from Medicare than they do from private insurance companies.
You should also consider that while Republicans like to talk about how scary “government run health care” is, they wouldn’t vote to repeal Medicare. In other words, they are completely full of it. And all of the “scare tactics” they use today when talking about health care reform are the same scare tactics conservatives used in the 1960s to make people afraid of Medicare. Think about that.
2. “You will be forced to use the government health insurance option”
No. While I think single payer health care would be the most effective solution, the truth is that the idea that President Obama supports is a “public option” which merely gives people the option to choose the government health insurance plan, you don’t have to choose it. You can stick with the plan you have now if you like it. This is nothing but fear mongering.
3. “It will cost too much money.”
Wrong! What would cost too much money is not reforming health care. Remember that our current private health insurance system costs far more than any other system in the world. A huge part of what makes this health care reform so essential is that it will (in the long run) actually save our country a huge amount of money. Our current system is outrageously ineffective and way too costly.
Too much money is going into the pockets of a few fat cats while too many of our people are sick which brings me to two major points: The huge profit margins of the private health insurance industry are sucking a lot of money out of our economy (from individual citizens and businesses) into the hands of a few health insurance industry executives and the large amount of sick people due to a lack of preventative care leads to more long term health care costs.
It’s clear that health care reform is essential, not just to improve the health of our citizens, but also to avoid disastrous results in our economy.
