Truth2Know
Gold Member
- Dec 18, 2014
- 353
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Healthcare is a multi-variable problem that is currently intractable because it is overly constrained by a mix of special interests, altruism, and selfishness. After this reality is acknowledged, one of two possible courses of action can be selected. This will get us out of the frustrating morass of trying for a magical solution that can be all things to everyone.
The following is a list of objectives for the ACA enacted under President Obama:
1) to reduce long-term growth of health care costs for businesses and government;
2) to protect families from bankruptcy or debt because of health care costs;
3) to guarantee choice of doctors and health plans;
4) to invest in prevention and wellness;
5) to improve patient safety and quality of care;
6) to assure affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans;
7) to maintain coverage when you change or lose your job;
8) to end barriers to coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Obama's health care reform plan targets eight goals | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
These are worthy goals. Unfortunately, these goals can’t be met at the same time because several are mutually exclusive. As an example, having “affordable” health coverage for “all Americans” (goal 6) is not possible if the expectation is that each person or family pays their own health insurance:
1. many Americas are not financially able to pay much in the way of insurance premiums
2. pre-existing conditions (goal 8) could easily put premiums out of reach for those of average incomes if the true cost of such insurance coverage was borne by the subscriber
Yet, Democrats, and now Republicans, think they are clever enough to devise a healthcare plan that satisfies all of these objectives. It’s a futile, Holy Grail effort that leads to political acrimony, division, and wasted time as fools try to solve the unsolvable.
Something to chew on for those engaged in solving the healthcare challenge: “About 5 percent of the population — those most frail or ill — accounts for nearly half the spending in a given year, according to a separate government study. Meanwhile, half the population has little or no health care costs, accounting for 3 percent of spending.” $10,345 per person: U.S. health care spending reaches new peak
Two possible solutions to America's healthcare impasse are:
Course of Action 1 – Declare healthcare to be a right of everyone in America, regardless of cost. Make people buy insurance they really don’t want for conditions they could never have so there is enough money in the coffers to cover the most ill and poor among us. Accept the economic burden this imposes on the whole as a charitable act to our fellow human beings, even those who have gained access to America illegally. This will let us revel in the high “number of people insured” statistic, despite the fact that huge deductibles and co-pays will prevent many of those insured from actually using it.
Course of Action 2 – Declare that healthcare is a commodity subject to the rules of any commodity: If you want healthcare insurance, buy it at market price using your own financial resources. Those with pre-existing conditions pay more to reflect higher expected medical costs. The poor and sickly will either obtain charitable (true charity, not forced-taxation-from-others charity) help for their conditions or remain poor and sickly until they die. [Note: There will always be poor and sickly people, Mark 14:7; everyone dies, Hebrews 9:27.]
America is at a healthcare crossroads. To paraphrase that great America philosopher, Yogi Berra, “When you come to a fork in the road, take Course of Action 2.”
The following is a list of objectives for the ACA enacted under President Obama:
1) to reduce long-term growth of health care costs for businesses and government;
2) to protect families from bankruptcy or debt because of health care costs;
3) to guarantee choice of doctors and health plans;
4) to invest in prevention and wellness;
5) to improve patient safety and quality of care;
6) to assure affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans;
7) to maintain coverage when you change or lose your job;
8) to end barriers to coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions.
Obama's health care reform plan targets eight goals | Lubbock Online | Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
These are worthy goals. Unfortunately, these goals can’t be met at the same time because several are mutually exclusive. As an example, having “affordable” health coverage for “all Americans” (goal 6) is not possible if the expectation is that each person or family pays their own health insurance:
1. many Americas are not financially able to pay much in the way of insurance premiums
2. pre-existing conditions (goal 8) could easily put premiums out of reach for those of average incomes if the true cost of such insurance coverage was borne by the subscriber
Yet, Democrats, and now Republicans, think they are clever enough to devise a healthcare plan that satisfies all of these objectives. It’s a futile, Holy Grail effort that leads to political acrimony, division, and wasted time as fools try to solve the unsolvable.
Something to chew on for those engaged in solving the healthcare challenge: “About 5 percent of the population — those most frail or ill — accounts for nearly half the spending in a given year, according to a separate government study. Meanwhile, half the population has little or no health care costs, accounting for 3 percent of spending.” $10,345 per person: U.S. health care spending reaches new peak
Two possible solutions to America's healthcare impasse are:
Course of Action 1 – Declare healthcare to be a right of everyone in America, regardless of cost. Make people buy insurance they really don’t want for conditions they could never have so there is enough money in the coffers to cover the most ill and poor among us. Accept the economic burden this imposes on the whole as a charitable act to our fellow human beings, even those who have gained access to America illegally. This will let us revel in the high “number of people insured” statistic, despite the fact that huge deductibles and co-pays will prevent many of those insured from actually using it.
Course of Action 2 – Declare that healthcare is a commodity subject to the rules of any commodity: If you want healthcare insurance, buy it at market price using your own financial resources. Those with pre-existing conditions pay more to reflect higher expected medical costs. The poor and sickly will either obtain charitable (true charity, not forced-taxation-from-others charity) help for their conditions or remain poor and sickly until they die. [Note: There will always be poor and sickly people, Mark 14:7; everyone dies, Hebrews 9:27.]
America is at a healthcare crossroads. To paraphrase that great America philosopher, Yogi Berra, “When you come to a fork in the road, take Course of Action 2.”
