Recently jobs and the economy have been the number one issue in the country, but just a few weeks ago health care was the issue du jour. It has been a nice break from the constant news coverage and lengthy opinion pieces on the topic (I apologize for just adding to the mess) but I think it is still a subject worth mentioning, yet again.
I have devised three different ideas to help put an end to this health care reform bill and to start thinking logically about the real problems it is supposed to be solving. First and foremost, if what we truly want to do is help the 30 million uninsured Americans that are in need of assistance, why can we not place them on our already existing government run health care program, Medicare? It would be far less costly to provide extra funding to Medicare than to do a complete overhaul of the health care system.
Now some of you may be saying, well how is that going to solve the rest of our problems with inflated rates and fixed plans? One word. Interstate. Cell phone companies and car insurance firms all provide coverage to citizens in every state, not just solely one state.
Why is health insurance not the same? The funny thing is, the government wants to put regulations on health insurance to help build competition. Well it was, in fact, the government that placed those regulations on the states so that they could not insure someone out of state. Simply take down the state restrictions that only allow people to purchase their insurance from one state.
If regulations were lifted then competition could set in, without government competition, and raise quality while lowering prices. Every other service and insurance is distributed between states, so why not health insurance?
My final thought on the matter deals with customization. As most health insurance policies stand right now, they provide coverage for unlikely and unnecessary procedures that add to the overall cost. Let’s say, after I graduate, I get an individual insurance policy and I am paying $200 a month. What does that cost really cover?
It allows me hospital time if I should get pregnant and have a child and it also provides me with enough coverage to have 3 mammograms a year. Oh happy day. Being that I am a male, it seems rather unlikely that I will need either of those. Do you get where I am going with this?
Why not create a menu of sorts with a build-your-own policy. I can take this coverage and that coverage, but not that coverage because I don’t really need that. Suddenly my cost is down to $75 a month and I am covered for exactly what I need to be covered for.
These may not be the best ideas, or even the most logical, but at least they are something. An alternative to mainstream ideas and political arguments. It does not take a Harvard graduate to understand logical solutions.
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