I am not the only one who thinks our health care insurance system is broken.
The problem we run into in the United States is the idea everything has to be for-profit. That somehow if healthcare were socialized we would sink into a frightful state of affairs if the system were revamped to provide healthcare for the sake of human compassion and “it’s the right thing to do.”
When we bailed out the bigwigs on Wall Street who were peddling subprime mortgages under the ”too big to fail” rationalization then I say all bets are off when it comes to healthcare going totally non-profit.
Let’s face it, our system now is broken and some people believe it is unwise to provide healthcare to everyone. I don’t know how they sleep at night.
As for creating an environment that was less free when it comes to commerce in regards to healthcare, I thought Forbes was on the right track with this May 2015 article which said: Many American conservatives oppose universal health insurance because they see it as fundamentally antithetical to a free society.
“If we persevere in our quixotic quest for a fetishized medical equality we will sacrifice personal freedom as its price,” wrote a guest editorialist in the Wall Street Journal in 2009.
But according to the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank, 10 nations freer than the United States have achieved universal health coverage. It turns out that the right kind of health reform could cover more Americans while increasing economic freedom.
I heard something laughable the other day on the radio where the host was ranting about the fact copays were too low and people were going to the doctor too much because of it. His solution was to get rid of copays and make you pay the entire deductible before getting any benefit.
Now a syndicated radio show host probably makes the scratch to do that, but most of your lower income folks living paycheck to paycheck don’t. In my opinion, the result of that action would be even more people using the emergency rooms as a primary care doctor. Can you blame people who have a sick child and a $5,000 deductible or no insurance at all?
I served for many years in the U.S. Army and we had basically a single-payer healthcare plan. You went to the army clinic, saw the military doctors and filled your prescription at the post pharmacy. If the U.S. wanted to do something about healthcare, why not begin a program where they give medical training to folks who agree to serve as a doctor for the following 8-10 years before hanging out a private practice shingle?
We would put people to work in a highly sought after field and have more doctors to provide controlled healthcare to the masses. The military healthcare worked fine for me, I had no complaints.
I think they should do the same thing for government service. You do your four years, live in the barracks in Washington and go home after.
Then we might have healthcare that worked as the government would really be for the people, by the people. Not a country club for the rich and famous.

Contact Steve Warner at news@smithvillereview.com