Fixing A Broken "System"

Guest contributor and SoCal Mom(ocrat) Donna Schwartz Mills chimes in on Healthcare Day.

After he retired, my late grandfather became a political activist – batting for the other team.

He embarrassed me when I was in college, by stumping at my campus for Proposition 13 (which was the beginning of the end of first-rate public education in California). He worshipped at the altar of Ronald Reagan, and was genuinely hurt when I declined his offer to give me a subscription to the Conservative Digest.

So why am I bringing up my Republican grandpa at Momocrats?

Because his last long quest in life was to try to fix our broken health care system.

Grandpa Joe was an ex-insurance man and he could see that the patchwork of spotty medical coverage provided by employers and unions was about to pull apart. He knew that the only way to ensure that ALL Americans receive basic medical care would be to institute a single payer system.

There, I said it. Single. Payer. System.

For some reason, those three words strike fear in American hearts. It sounds too much like “socialized medicine,” or the horrible future predicted by “Harry and Louise,” the couple in the ads the insurance industry ran back when Hillary Clinton was trying to do something about American health care.

Politicians are terrified of using those three words and how the American public would react to them. That’s why even now, the health care plans proposed by the front running candidates involve some variation of getting private insurance into the hands of consumers who are not currently covered. There’s talk of requiring everyone to buy insurance, and helping pay for those who cannot afford it.

These plans would be a mere band-aid solution to our health care problems.

Why is there so much fear of Single Payer?

Are people afraid that a government-run entity would just screw it up and create a new bureaucracy?

My grandfather – who was no fan of big government or bureaucracies – knew that the United States government already had a well-run single payer insurance system; one that now has a 40-year track record. It’s called MediCare. His proposal – which he presented to anyone who would lend him an ear – was to expand MediCare coverage to everyone. Every man, woman and child would be able to enjoy the same good coverage that he was receiving as a senior citizen.

Skeptics may point out that an agency with that kind of power and money would be a ripe target for fraud, and MediCare fraud already exists. But so do all kinds of insurance-related scams, so I don’t see the fraud potential as being any worse than it already is.

A government-run system would likely have to be supported by taxes, and that’s a fear that’s often used to dissuade people from supporting progressive policies. It’s true that we might have to pay more taxes to give medical coverage to the entire nation…

…but my grandfather, (the tax-hating Prop. 13 activist) knew that any new taxes would be more than offset by what we would save by having a more efficient means of paying for medical care. Insurance works by spreading the risk among a diverse population. The minimal costs incurred by younger, healthier people help subsidize those of those who need more medical care. That’s why large corporations and unions (and the Federal government) are able to provide better insurance than small companies (and why individual coverage is so unaffordable).

We would also be lifting the health insurance burden from every corporation, small business, union and individual in America.

Last year, the chairmen of the Big Three auto companies were quoted saying that the cost of health care in the U.S. was one of the reasons their products were not as competitive as imports, and was a contributing factor to their decision to move jobs to other countries – like Canada, where employee health care costs are negligible.

Going to a single payer system might actually prove a boon to the larger economy.

Of course, expanding MediCare to the entire population of the United States might put a lot of insurance people out of business.

Then again, that’s a resourceful industry. I would bet that the minute we move to a single payer system, the insurance companies would figure out where the gaps in the coverage are and come up with new products to fill them.

It’s the American way.

Comments

[Glennia]

Great post. Your grandpa was right.

[Donna]

Thank you, Glennia. I wish he was around now to rant about this some more. It was rare for the two of us to agree on a political issue.

[LawyerMama]

Great post, Glennia! You mentioned a point that's often overlooked by "fiscal conservatives." Having a single payer system will dramatically reduce costs for businesses and make the U.S. a more attractive place to stay.

[Kyla]

Well said.

[Glennia]

Please note that this is DONNA's post. When are you going to give in and just become a MOMocrat, Donna?

[kittenpie]

I add my voice again as a Canadian to say - yes, some people do complail about the fact that our taxes here are higher to cover the benefits we receive. But as your wise grampa noted, health insurance is damned expensive. Here, the typical situation is that employers cover supplementary benefits for full-time employees, and they are cheap enough to make that work because they are only supplementary. Thus, instead of paying hundreds a month on top of taxes deducted from a paycheck, you have only taxes deducted. I've worked in both the US and Canada, and I think it comes out about even, or maybe even a bit cheaper here.

[margalit]

As a recipient of Medicare, your grandfather was not correct in thinking that we had a decent single payer healthcare plan in the USA. Yes, we have Medicare, and it does cover the essentials such as hospitalization in it's Part A universal coverage. Unfortunately, Part A covers little else, so consumers must purchase Part B and Part D coverage if they want medical insurance and prescription coverage. Both Part B and D are covered by a myriad of private health insurers and are quite pricey. Part A alone is $96/month and is taken directly out of your Social Security check. Part B can easily be another $50 to 100/month, and Part D can add on another $50 t0 $75/month, depending upon the private insurance provider's Medicare Advantage Plan (Part C) coverage options. In addition, you might have to purchase a MediGap coverage policy to fill in the gaps that Part A and Part B do not cover.

Confused yet? Try actually FINDING the right coverage for yourself. It makes doing your tax returns like a walk in the park. While I do use my Medicare often, due to my serious health problems, I have a Medicare Advantage Plan because Medicare alone did not cover most of what I needed. It would have put me in serious debt with Medicare alone. You see, Medicare covers 80% of covered costs AFTER you meet your deductable. It does not cover any medications, eyecare, dental care, long term care, foot care (even for diabetics), acupuncture, chiropractic care, custodial care, deductables, coinsurance, or copayments, hearing aids, hearing tests, lab screening tests, routine physical exams, preventive shots, syringes or insulin.

That's quite a list, especially if you are elderly or disabled. It isn't adequate medical coverage on it's own, but with the addition of a Medicare Advantage Plan, you get decent coverage for a big cost. In other words, you are buying private health insurance that has partnered with Medicare. So much for single payer.