Marry asks at the end of a long and rambling email which jumps from topic to topic:
Is there any particular reason why you are so against people getting affordable health care through the government?
Marry’s question is typical from people who don’t really understand what is going on in America these days so I am going to pick on her.
First, I can give two good reasons why I am against the federal government getting involved in health care and health insurance. The first is the VA Hospital System. The second is Medicare. Both of these government run medical programs are so poorly run and have so many problems associated with them that anyone who would seek to give the federal government more power to control more health related decisions is out of their cotton picking mind.
The VA Hospitals are prime examples of exactly how governments run hospitals. Every day I get emails from veterans that are getting substandard in that system. If there is one group that the government SHOULD provide top quality care for it is our wounded vets who got wounded doing a job our government ordered them to do. Yet every day I get emails about how vets cannot even get into a hospital to be seen and when they are seen are filled up with pills to mask symptoms rather than treating them.
Medicare is a prime example of how the government “controls costs” which is what they claim they will be able to do with a national health insurance option. They do this by cutting back on the amounts of money they pay for services. It is also why many doctors around the country are not taking on new Medicare patients or are stopping to see Medicare patients all together.
If you need a third reason see Medicaid which has the same problems as Medicare.
There is no reason to believe that the federal government will come up with some great panacea with regards to health insurance/care knowing the facts behind these two systems which, despite all attempts at “reform,” are examples of how pathetically government cares for those in their charge.
I am not against people getting affordable health care. But the problem is that “affordable” is a vague term. What is affordable to me is not affordable to a single mom with three kids who works as a secretary. To me, $300 a month to cover myself and my kids is pretty affordable but try getting that single mom to agree. To her, it might be something more like $50 a month. Then the problem becomes that for those who want to only pay $50 a month want the same benefits as someone that pays $300 a month. It is like asking for a Hyundai that has all the features of a Jaguar.
Then there is the issue that health “insurance” is not for everyone. Some people would rather take the risk of simply paying for catastrophic events out of pocket rather than monthly premiums. Of course then you always have those people that don’t think they should pay at all and if they get hurt someone should treat them for free.
Health care is available to anyone in America willing to pay the price for it. It always has been. You cannot make it free or arbitrarily cheap and “affordable” just because you think that it should be. There are free clinics everywhere and hospitals do a lot of charity work for those unable to pay but you also get what you pay for there. Those are the facts. And with those facts I say we have the best health care system in the world when you exclude our government run systems already in place. You as an individual get to choose your level of risk and what you will pay for.
Just like some people have to settle for a Hyundai instead of a Jaguar, some people have to settle for lower grade insurance and make up the difference. The only other option is to become like any of the current countries with national health care and make everyone miserable under a federal system that tells you what to do and when to do it and what treatment you will receive for the good of the state.
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