I wanted to provide you some good information and links on the Presidential Candidates positions on health care reform. Working in this industry and seeing the devastation that uninsured and underinsured patients and familes experience has made me an avid supporter of universal health care coverage. Let me state my position and reasons for believing this absolutely must happen in order to reduce the cost burden on the American people.
First, Universal health care coverage has been framed by conservatives to mean socialized medicine. However, Universal health care coverage just means, affordable health care for all.
The problem with the free market approach to health care is that health insurance companies are "for profit" entities. In the "for profit" world their goal is to maximize shareholders profits. They make larger profits by not covering high cost sick patients. The free market may work for those who can afford health insurance but absolutely will not work for those who cannot and who are ill.
Did you know that 80% of uninsured patients are employed but just simply do not make enough to cover the high cost of insurance. Maybe they work for a small business (like OKBTF) who simply cannot afford to contribute to employees health insurance. These patients are not free loaders, these are working class families who are living paycheck to paycheck.
Barack Obama's plan for health care reform is the most comprehensive and combines the free market approach with a subsidized insurance for those who cannot afford health insurance. Look guys this is not just about covering the uninsured, it is about health care security for those who are fortunate to be covered by an employer but whose job could be in jeopardy due to the volatile economic times we are facing. Or those of us who pay for private insurance but could be dropped at any time due to a health care crisis.
Quite frankly I no longer want my health care to be in the hands of a bunch of suits sitting in a board room who are watering down benefits to increase share holder profit and do not care if my child is dying of cancer or not.
Give me your thoughts and check out the above link that will break down the candidates positions for you.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
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I don't think you fully understand either candidate's health plan. Your statements in your blog that "Barack Obama's plan for health care reform is the most comprehensive" and "Quite frankly I no longer want my health care to be in the hands of a bunch of suits sitting in a board room who are watering down benefits to increase share holder profit and do not care if my child is dying of cancer or not." indicate that. First, neither is "most comprehensive". They are strikingly similar. Both are going to cost taxpayers a lot of money, both aim to provide universal insurance coverage (which is different than universal health care, which we already have in this country, mandated by federal law). The major difference is that McCain wants competition within the industry to drive down the cost of premiums, much like Geico, SafeAuto, Progressive, etc. compete for your auto insurance. He will give each individual a direct tax credit to pay for whatever plan you choose to purchase for yourself rather than giving that tax break to your employer, so you are not dependent on your employer to pick whichever plan your employer thinks is best for him/her. Obama wants to create a new federal government administered insurance plan people can pay for to compete with private plans, like making Medicare or Medicaid available to everyone for a certain price. With either candidate, your health insurance is safe if you lose your job. With McCain, your health insurance and your job have nothing to do with each other, just like you do not lose your car insurance or your life insurance if you lose your job. With Obama, you will still get insurance though your employer, or you can choose to buy government insurance like Medicare or Medicaid if you can't get insurance through your employer or if you lose your job. Those are the only differences. So on your second comment about having your healthcare in the hands of suits: if you vote for McCain, your healthcare will be in your hands, to make choices you feel are best for you. If you vote for Obama, your healthcare will be in the hands of Senators and Congressmen like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, who last time I looked, were wearing suits while taking bribes from mortgage companies and financial institutions they were supposed to be regulating. We can't get the legislature to pass Stephanie's Law, and you want to give them control over your healthcare? Try arguing with government run health insurance whether something should be covered or not. I can't get Medicaid to pay for physical therapy after spine surgery, even though EVERY private insurance AND Medicare do. I don't think the government is going to be able to run an insurance company any better than they do anything else. There are lots of other reasons to vote for Obama or McCain, but healthcare goes to McCain right now unless you are happy with the way our government runs things. And that's not going to change until we get substantial campaign contribution reform at the national, state, and local level in all 3 branches of government. One president is not going to be able to change anything.
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