| Editor's Rant |
| This space is reserved for our Editor to spout off about anything he wants to. |
RX For Health Care
One of the chief complaints that the media likes to fling at the Democratic Party
is that they only tear down Republican ideas and have no ideas of their own. It’s
true that the Democrats tend to be a little more independent--they lack the
discipline to march in lock-step to advance an ideology like the Republicans.
Which is why I think they’re a little better, but only a little. I think this country
would be a lot better off if the politicians stopped thinking in terms of what’s good
for their party and started thinking more about what’s best for the country.
On a personal level, I’m an independent who only votes for Democrats by default
because they’re the lesser of two evils. And our editorial policy at The Strange
Times is to make fun of everybody, no matter what their political stripe. If we
seem to pick on the Republicans more it’s only because they’re in power and
they happen to be hilarious. The Democrats are kind of like whiny children
saying, “Come on, guys, it’s my turn.” Kind of pathetic, but not very funny.
But I’d like to promote a simple idea to fix one of the major problems facing this
country--the millions of working folks who can’t get affordable health insurance.
They can’t get Medicaid because they’re working, but their employers either don’
t offer health insurance or the premiums are more than they can afford.
I think the government has a responsibility to pick up this slack. That’s why they
should form a national health insurance plan, a federal corporation similar to the
U.S. Postal Service, with a goal of taking in as much as it spends. It would
charge premiums and have deductibles and perhaps co-payments, similar to an
employer insurance plan, but the rates might be reduced depending on the
insured’s income.
The plan’s first clients would be all of the country’s Medicaid patients. The state
agencies would just pay their premiums and other payments. This would
immediately make the National Health Plan the nation’s largest insurer, giving
them a lot of clout to negotiate fees with medical providers. Then the plan would
be opened to every American who couldn’t get affordable insurance through
their employer (affordable being defined as, say, 110% of what the National Plan
would charge them for similar coverage).
The National Plan wouldn’t have the luxury that private plans enjoy of rejecting
applicants who are more likely to develop serious health problems, so it might be
difficult for it to break even, but even if it requires subsidies it would be worth it.
This would be a necessary huge step forward in making affordable health care
available to all Americans. It’s not socializing medicine, the present system
wouldn’t be changed at all. It would just be the government picking up where the
private sector left off.
The big concern, of course, would be the creation of a whole new agency to
squander our money. But since it would be built from the ground up, maybe the
federal government would get an opportunity to prove that efficient bureaucracy
isn’t an oxymoron.
One of the chief complaints that the media likes to fling at the Democratic Party
is that they only tear down Republican ideas and have no ideas of their own. It’s
true that the Democrats tend to be a little more independent--they lack the
discipline to march in lock-step to advance an ideology like the Republicans.
Which is why I think they’re a little better, but only a little. I think this country
would be a lot better off if the politicians stopped thinking in terms of what’s good
for their party and started thinking more about what’s best for the country.
On a personal level, I’m an independent who only votes for Democrats by default
because they’re the lesser of two evils. And our editorial policy at The Strange
Times is to make fun of everybody, no matter what their political stripe. If we
seem to pick on the Republicans more it’s only because they’re in power and
they happen to be hilarious. The Democrats are kind of like whiny children
saying, “Come on, guys, it’s my turn.” Kind of pathetic, but not very funny.
But I’d like to promote a simple idea to fix one of the major problems facing this
country--the millions of working folks who can’t get affordable health insurance.
They can’t get Medicaid because they’re working, but their employers either don’
t offer health insurance or the premiums are more than they can afford.
I think the government has a responsibility to pick up this slack. That’s why they
should form a national health insurance plan, a federal corporation similar to the
U.S. Postal Service, with a goal of taking in as much as it spends. It would
charge premiums and have deductibles and perhaps co-payments, similar to an
employer insurance plan, but the rates might be reduced depending on the
insured’s income.
The plan’s first clients would be all of the country’s Medicaid patients. The state
agencies would just pay their premiums and other payments. This would
immediately make the National Health Plan the nation’s largest insurer, giving
them a lot of clout to negotiate fees with medical providers. Then the plan would
be opened to every American who couldn’t get affordable insurance through
their employer (affordable being defined as, say, 110% of what the National Plan
would charge them for similar coverage).
The National Plan wouldn’t have the luxury that private plans enjoy of rejecting
applicants who are more likely to develop serious health problems, so it might be
difficult for it to break even, but even if it requires subsidies it would be worth it.
This would be a necessary huge step forward in making affordable health care
available to all Americans. It’s not socializing medicine, the present system
wouldn’t be changed at all. It would just be the government picking up where the
private sector left off.
The big concern, of course, would be the creation of a whole new agency to
squander our money. But since it would be built from the ground up, maybe the
federal government would get an opportunity to prove that efficient bureaucracy
isn’t an oxymoron.
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