National Healthcare

CNBC had a panelist discussion on National Health Care this morning, spawned by Hillary Clinton's appearance on the O'Reilly Factor, where they talked about her proposed health care program and how it would bankrupt the nation. I too believe that it is impractical to think that the nation can afford nationalized health care, since we really can't even afford the health care programs we have in place now. If everyone played by the rules, perhaps medicare and medicaid would be in better condition. However, after working several years in the health care profession, I know that it is rife with fraud. I have seen health care providers billing the government programs for services they did not provide. So any government run program is bound to be way to costly for the taxpayers to afford, simply because there is no effective way to control such a program. Add to that the fact that in countries with nationalized health care, the quality of health care leaves a lot to be desired and I believe a National Health Care Program is really only political rhetoric. Might be good for picking up votes but for all practical purposes it most likely will never happen.

So what should be done to solve the health care crisis? Perhaps the government should consider a national group insurance program instead. It could be a group insurance plan that is open to all legalized citizens and residents of the United States. The insurance premiums that individuals pay could be based on income to make it affordable for low income households. I know that people would argue that this would hurt the insurance companies, leading to loss of income and loss of jobs, but that doesn't have to be the case. The government could pass legislation whereby private insurance companies have to provide the coverage, perhaps offering tax incentives to the companies who comply. As for people who absolutely cannot afford to pay anything for insurance coverage, a tax code provision which allows for deductions of insurance premiums in addition to the standard deductions, should cover the cost for the poorest Americans. There would be a lot of details to work out, but it would keep the government out of the health care business while providing health care for everyone.

Of course I realize, this too will probably never happen. However, I just wanted to make the point that there are workable alternatives to a Nationalized Health care program. The bottom line is that the United States as I see it is nearing or has already gone beyond the tax threshold. When you see wealthier citizens leaving the country to escape high taxes and corporations parking earnings in overseas subsidiaries to delay tax payments or worse yet, leaving the country entirely, then it's a pretty safe bet that more taxes are only going to make our problems worse. Make no mistake, no matter what the politicians would have you believe, a nationalized health care program would mean more taxes and probably much more than any of us could afford to pay.