by Robert M. Traxler
Health care is a topic that is front and center in the media today. The American health care industry is overall the best in world, hands down, not even close. Some nations may be better in small areas, but overall ours is the best.
Some nations have socialized medicine or single payer as it has come to be called; socialized medicine is a program where the government pays 100% of the bill. That may make it more accessible, but not of better quality.
The fly in the ointment for our government to become our care giver is that pesky thing called the U.S. Constitution. We were founded on the principle that an overreaching government is evil. Cradle to grave, government control of our lives is repugnant to the spirit and letter of our constitutional democracy. That said, we as a nation need to do what we have a true genius for, and work out a compromise. We need a health care system that will provide for our people and not be unconstitutional or massively bureaucratic.
Making statements such as “millions of people will lose their health care if the Affordable Healthcare Act is repealed” is just plain wrong and will not help. Folks will lose their government subsidy and will need to pay more out of pocket and indeed some truly will not be able to afford healthcare, but not many millions. A new replacement health care act will see that number reduced even further, hopefully eliminated.
The founders of our nation took years to hammer out the Constitution; it was signed 13 years after the Declaration of Independence. Knowing full well any document or plan would not stand over time, those rich dead white guys who wrote it allowed it to be amended. The amendment process by design is not easy and requires a super majority of the states to ratify an amendment.
Health care is too important to let political blinders keep us from building a system that will provide for all Americans. The 10% on the fringe of the political process, left and right, keep the 80% of us from a plan that can work.
As you may know I have advanced cancer and am undergoing treatment. The initial treatment, a double shot of Firmagon, costs $14,500 in Michigan and over $18,000 in upstate New York (even more in New York City), why? Crossing state lines to find a bargain in medicine should be a no-brainer, as should be subsidizing the folks who truly cannot afford health care.
Stupid government regulations dictated that I spend an extra night in the hospital when having a hip replaced. I wanted to go home, the surgeon said I could leave, but Medicare required two nights in the hospital at many thousands of dollars per night. That kind of idiotic government regulation must be avoided in any future national health care system.
In the what it is worth column, I feel we can come up with a system that will not require a massive government expansion and allow the medical professionals and not the bureaucrats to manage health care. Let’s do it right, not quickly, and then put it in front of the people as a constitutional amendment. The Bill of Rights took years to develop after the Declaration of Independence was published, as did the Constitution; we have time to do it right. If we do not take the time do it right we will need to always take the time do it over.
The Affordable Care Act was rushed through as political theater, not a workable, realistic medical care program. The new health care act needs to be done right, not fast, and then made a constitutional right, but only after the constitutional process has been followed. The process will be long, ugly, and no way to sugarcoat it, expensive.
The Democrats passed a truly unworkable plan based on politics not efficiency; the Republicans need to avoid the trap and do it right, not quickly. As the old adage goes, if you want something bad enough that is exactly what you get.