It is entirely possible that all of us are sick (at least to some extent), and President Obama has a plan to save us all. The other end of the spectrum is also probable, - that President Obama is completely delirious to want to turn America into Canada or England. Well, for argument’s sake, those countries are not necessarily bad places for fall sick, except that healthcare and government bureaucracy is the same sentence is nothing close to paradise. Overhauling the United States’ healthcare would require a dose of corporate selflessness, ingenuity and a divine miracle. The concerns of doctors (however unfounded) are that any such drastic reforms will bring a government-heavy system that dictates how patients get treated and how much physicians get paid. Then there is the drug companies, the pink elephant in the room, and I am yet to meet one utterly clueless person who thinks drug manufacturers are in this conversation for our well being. Sitting on the sidelines are 46 million (I think a lot more) people uninsured in America and that picture has tragedy written all over it.
The fact remains that in the same way that Obama is looking at the current healthcare system as a dire problem, insurance companies see a golden opportunity looming their way.
All these opposing ideologies leads to one thing, - health care reform. Quite frankly, no one is whining at the thought of universal health coverage, for a lack of its noble intent. The problem is that like any idea with a business edge to it, an extension to people who otherwise would be unable to pay for the program, implies that some one else will be ‘hit’ with the bill. Call me delirious, but that is where the bone of contention started in the first place. If you seriously doubt my argument, ask Hillary Clinton why her agenda failed completely during the Bill Clinton years.
All the talk of choice of doctors, insurance companies and bureaucratic gibberish is one that skirts the real issue.
Ultimately overhauling the entire healthcare system will involve stepping on a bunch of toes, and dipping into a bunch of pockets. Does health care translate into economic impacts both short and long term? Of course, but that is like trying to explain how depreciation and inflation will affect the futures contract on Wall Street. No one cares, the rich wants to get richer, the poor are wondering where the help will come from, and the government is stuck in the middle of the mess.
Reducing costs and increasing efficiency makes business sense if you are running for Congress in 2010, but there is no insurance company losing sleep over the rising costs of Tylenol and Aleve. Try showing up at your doctor’s office with anything that looks like a headache; after the hundred tests and fifty CAT scans, you come home $100, 000 in debt. It is for that reason alone that I don’t weep for doctors regarding malpractice lawsuits. So the propensity for any successful healthcare system is a crapshoot, no surprise there. So is Immigration, Federal Reserve, CIA, Foreign Policy, FEMA, Wall Street and just about anything that comes to mind. We live in interesting times, and the fact that half the country could fall sick today and have no idea where to turn, is more sad than it is interesting.
So maybe all of us are not sick, that’s the good news. The bad news, undeniably so, is that healthcare system in this country is as sick as a dog, and the even sad part of it is that we will rather see our next door neighbor die than lose a dollar. Healthcare is one of those topics that make me miss England’s cradle-to-the grave national insurance, and that is coming from someone who has a hard time missing anything, and anyone, of course except MH.The sticky part of this healthcare conversation has something to do with ‘pre-existing conditions’. That is actually one of the magic phrases in this debate, when insurance providers deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.
For the record, I am not at all against a government funded health insurance program for people who cannot afford it. I have personally read through the Humana mumbo jumbo once or twice, and I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have had to opt for taking my chances. If President Obama can come up with a win-win scenario for many people who are too broke to pay for health insurance, more power to him.
It is sad that a country as powerful and sophisticated like the United States will have to choose between healthcare and paying our mortgages, but such is the reality of the times. It’s all about one thing, the Benjamin Franklins.
