Other effective ways to help our health care system

Other effective ways to help our health care system

Abby Weathers

Jefferson Community and Technical College

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Health care is undoubtedly the most controversial topic in society today. The costs are

absolutely staggering and continue to rise at several times the rate of inflation. As many struggle

to pay for healthcare, a plethora of employers are no longer offering benefits to their employees

and many individuals simply go without coverage. Although there are many topics that could be

touched on in an attempt to remedy the issues, I will speak to four that I believe would be a step

in the right direction to ease the burden on society and still afford quality healthcare. Healthcare

in the United States should be a right of every citizen that should be reasonable and accessible by

everyone.

The hottest topic regarding healthcare in the United States is whether or not there should

be more government involvement. Personally, I believe there should be some limited

involvement but kept to a minimum. I believe the government may be able to assist in keeping

the costs and pricing a little more under control but do not feel having their hand in it one

hundred percent would make the matter in better. I believe society is reminded on a daily basis

of how inadequate our government is running industries of this magnitude. We only have to

look at our tax system and deficit as examples of what our government is capable of when

completely in control. Our deficit, like healthcare, continues to spiral out of control at the

expense of our society and for years the only answer from our government is to raise taxes and

burden our citizens for their poor decisions. “Businesses and individuals that choose to keep

their health plans still must pay a much higher amount. Remember, businesses only have a

certain amount of money they can spend on labor. If they must spend more on health insurance

premiums, they will have less money to spend on raises, new hires, investment, and so on.

Individuals who must pay more for premiums have less money to spend on rent, food, and

consumer goods; in other words, less money is pumped back into the economy. A simpler, not
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fully government-controlled system that reduces costs would go a long way in helping that

recovery (J. Messerli 2011).” I believe too much involvement would create more bureaucratic

red tape, expenses would rise and we would be no better off. However, that if a federal agency

was developed to revise the current policies used to regulate costs and pricing, and actually held

those excessively charging accountable, there could possibly be some relief and hopefully more

affordable for everyone.

An additional topic of interest is whether or not our tax dollars should cover the cost of

healthcare for all citizens. I believe it should supplement the cost that we currently pay out of

our pockets to ease the burden on society. We currently pay quadrillions in tax dollars every

year that finance countless, meaningless programs that literally benefit no one and could be used

to help pay the costs of healthcare. In addition, our government spends trillions of dollars a year

on illegal aliens’ healthcare that ultimately comes out of every citizen’s pocket via higher taxes

and higher health care premiums to make up from them not paying. If our government seriously

focused on sweeping the country of illegal aliens there would be an immediate relief felt by all

because of the freed up funds. Furthermore, there would be freed up funds because we would no

longer have to staff and pay for people to set up all the illegals with their health care plans, the

continual monitoring of the aliens, etc. There are so many resources currently tied up with

illegal alien “free” health care that it seems as though our government has forgotten about the

American society and its well-being.

Another point of concern is our senior government officials and the health care benefits

they receive. I believe that every elected government official, from the President of the United

States and down should have to carry the burden of paying for health coverage just like everyone

else in the country. If they were required to pay out of pocket premiums and be limited to the
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types of insurance coverage the average citizen is there would be a lot of energy focused on

righting the ship to make health care more affordable and accessible to everyone.

Patient care is suffering because of all the bureaucratic red tape. The insurance industry

has become so complicated and full of different policies and plans that patient care is beginning

to diminish. Doctors are spending more time on paperwork and forms and focusing less on

patients. With more healthcare reformation there could be an attempt to get back to basics so

everyone’s health is put at the forefront and preventive practices could be put in place so that

everyone can be healthy. Doctors have to take classes now simply to understand all the

insurance plans out there; they are often restricted by insurance practices, such as what tests can

be ordered. “Doctors must practice defensive medicine to avoid getting sued. Some physicians

are even leaving the profession rather than deal with all these non-medical headaches. A

simplified universal health system would allow doctors, nurses, and other medical professions to

simply focus on doing what's best for the patient. Medicine is a complex enough subject as it is.

Our current system just adds to an already mentally-draining profession (J. Messerli 2011).”

As I have been researching I came across “Under the Affordable Care Act” that is

supposed to be in effect in 2014. Will this be successful or cause more problems? “Under the

Affordable Care Act, we have implemented new rules that phase out, by 2014, health insurance

companies’ ability to slap restrictive annual dollar limits on the amount they will pay for your

care. But between now and 2014, we also want to make sure workers are able to maintain their

existing insurance, because on their own they would likely be shut out of the individual market

or face unaffordable options. To do that, the Affordable Care Act allows the Department of

Health and Human Services to issue temporary waivers from the annual limit provision of the

law if it would disrupt access to existing insurance arrangements or adversely affect premiums,
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causing people to lose coverage. We have been completely transparent about this process,

announcing the waiver process in a regulation last summer, publishing clear guidance on the

application process on our website, and posting a list of waivers we have granted on our website.

The Affordable Care Act puts an end to many of the worst insurance company practices

including refusing to sell a policy to a family because someone had cancer or a child has asthma;

cancelling coverage when a patient files claims because of an unintentional mistake in their

paperwork; and slapping annual or lifetime limits on how much care you can receive. When

these rules are fully in place in 2014, our country will be much better off and the cost of

coverage will be within reach for the millions of Americans who now live day to day without

coverage, worrying about an injury or an illness that could plunge them into bankruptcy. To get

from today’s broken system to tomorrow’s patient-centered system takes time and patience

through a reasonable transition period. But, together, we will get there (R. Sorian 2011).” To

me, that seems like the government is trying something that will help. They are trying other

ways to see if it will help because switching to free universal health care is so controversial. I

think this is a good idea to try other options first and see if they benefit everyone.

One of my classmates is opposed with free universal health care. He thought that by

providing free health care and having the government involved would make our country

communist. Sebastian does not agree with me believing that the government should be

somewhat involved. He thought that would be just another thing that the government controls

which is giving them more power. My classmate believes that our healthcare is fine the way it

is. The ones that are not insured can go to clinics or purchase their own insurance like everyone

else. In addition, my friend feels that we are all equal and everyone deserves the same

healthcare. She agrees with me that the governor’s and senators should get a taste of how much
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we pay four taxes and health care. My classmate is not for free universal health care. My friend,

however, thinks everyone should have the same health care and with free universal health care

we would all have the same. She also thinks that “The Affordable Care Act” is a good start to

helping many.

I do not believe that free universal health care is the best way for our health care. Our

private health care now is obviously not the best health care either. In providing, every citizen,

health care we need to come about other effective ways as I mentioned in the above. A

combination of a few of both private and free universal health care would be our best bet in

helping everyone. If more people were more aware of other effective ways then maybe we could

compromise to an agreeable health care plan for everyone. All the options I mentioned in the

above, I believe would be a step in the right direction to ease the burden on society and still

afford quality healthcare. Healthcare in the United States should be a right of every citizen that

should be reasonable and accessible by everyone.

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References

Joe Messerli. (2011, May 5). Should the government provide free universal health care for all

americans. http://www.balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm

R. Sorian. (2011, May17). The truth about waivers: protecting coverage for millions of

americans. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/17/truth-about-waivers-protecting-

coverage-millions-americans

(Classmate)

(Friend)