President Obama’s desire to bring some form of universal health care to the United States has been greeted with resistance and may be doomed for failure. The question that remains to be answered is a simple one. Why?
Approximately fifty million people in the United States have no type of health insurance whatsoever. The rest of us have to deal with HMO’s, PPO’s, insurance adjusters making medical decisions that overrule our doctors, claim denials, exhaustion of benefits and exclusions for pre-existing conditions. If we can jump over all these hurdles, we might get our insurance company to pay something. But don’t count on it. Check the court docket in any big city and you will see hospitals suing the major health insurance carriers for payment of assigned benefits. Why do so few wish to escape from this prison?
Health care is a fundamental right in virtually every other civilized country on the planet. It would seem that only the United States is lagging behind. It is curious that the Constitution would provide us with freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to a lawyer, the right to a jury trial and apparently even the right to keep a gun in our homes, but include no right to receive fundamental healthcare. Apparently the Founding Fathers, with all of their wisdom, never saw this one coming.
Of course the solution to this mess is relatively simple, and that is to make Medicare available to everybody. And it doesn’t even have to be free. Those under 65 can pay premiums, just like we are already doing to the private insurance companies who refuse to pay our claims. And if you don’t want to buy “government” insurance - if you are satisfied with the coverage and service being provided to you by the No-Pay HMO of Bumfolk, then by all means stay with the No-Pay HMO of Bumfolk. But please allow some of us to purchase this “government” insurance that supposedly nobody wants
The following are the most prominent arguments that have been presented to date that prevents the Sipsa family from buying into Medicare:
(a) Government operation of a health insurance company would amount to “socialism.”
(b) A government operated insurance company would surely be bureaucratic and inefficient;
(c) Private insurance companies could not compete with a government operated healthcare system.
Quite obviously (b) and (c) are contradictory concepts. If a publicly owned health insurance company was truly bureaucratic and inefficient, then private insurers should have no problem providing formidable competition. But would a government operated insurance company truly be bureaucratic and inefficient? For all of its purported problems, I have not heard a single senior citizen tell me that he or she wishes to give up Medicare.
That leaves only one remaining argument, that a government operated health insurance company would drive the United States into a socialist nightmare, complete with healthcare rationing and “death panels.” But since most health care tends to be provided near the end of life and since most of these health care recipients are already being covered by Medicare, why isn’t the rationing and “death panels” already in place? To the contrary, Ray Sipsa’s mother underwent coronary bypass and valve replacement surgery at the age of 83. It was paid for by – you guessed it – Medicare.
Frankly, this “socialism” argument has me scratching my head. The Sipsa family lives in Elk Grove Village, Illinois – a predominantly Republican community. Yet the Elk Grove Park District operates a water park called “Rainbow Falls” for which it charges admission. When a governmental entity operates a water park, is that “socialism?” And if so, where is the outcry? Incidentally, the very same park district operates a health club, a golf course, a theme park for children and a banquet hall. Yes, socialism is rampant in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.
But we are not alone. One of our suburban neighbors is the Village of Schaumburg. In 1999 Socialist Schaumburg built a ballpark to lure a minor league baseball team that continues to play there to this very day. Can you imagine such a thing?
And as I write these words I am traveling on a commuter train. The train is operated by METRA, which is an acronym for Metropolitan Rail - a governmental entity. This train used to be operated by the Milwaukee Road, which was a private company. Unfortunately the Milwaukee Road was losing money until government came to the rescue. Now instead of driving to downtown Chicago in my private car, on a congested expressway, wasting the national's dwindling gas supply, I am typing on my computer as I enjoy socialist air conditioning.
The Chicago White Sox play baseball at U.S. Cellular Field. But the U.S. Cellular Corporation doesn’t own a brick at the ballpark that bears its name. Instead U.S. Cellular Field is owned by a governmental entity that sold off the naming rights.
The Chicago Wolves play hockey at the Allstate Arena, the naming rights having been acquired by the Allstate Insurance Company. But the stadium is actually owned by the Village of Rosemont. Apparently socialism doesn’t bother the insurance industry if they can paste their logo on it.
And we still have public schools to educate our children. Is that socialism? The state also operates the University of Illinois as well as other institutes of advanced learning. Is that socialism?
Yes, socialism is taking over the United States of America.
God help us all.
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