Health Insurance Repair

#1) Presently, only certain insurance companies offer certain policies in certain states. If it is the legislature’s opinion that healthcare insurance should be “universal”, why not let the private sector give it a go first? Open up all policies to all customers nationwide for interstate commerce to choose the policies that fit themselves and their families best.
What this will do is reduce the number of intricate policy differences and micro departments within the same companies (i.e.< BCBS; BS of CA, BC of DE, etc.). The cost savings in staffing and comingling of files and services alone would be astronomical.

#2) Presently, insurance is most commonly offered by an employer. This works better because health benefits are pre- tax dollars paid to an employee. If the employer gave the money directly to the employee in order to buy his own insurance, he would have to take out payroll tax on it, leaving the employee with only 2/3 of the monthly buying power until he could file for the appropriate refund. If the employee decided not to participate in a healthcare plan, and the employer paid him untaxed money to buy it with, the employer would be in IRS trouble.
Let’s keep the employer out of health care. A policy he chooses for the company isn’t going to fit each and every employee equally anyway. Why do we even have employers choosing our health care plans for us now, anyway? Our employers are not even licensed to broker health care policies, so why allow it in the first place? It doesn’t make good sense. The only thing that does make sense is for each individual to be able to choose the policy that fits that person’s personal needs and situations. Change whatever state and federal rules to make this happen.

#3) Social Security and Medicare/ Medicaid shouldn’t have anything to do with each other. Why they are tied together is beyond comprehension.
Social Security should have only to do with making sure that those who worked for a living throughout their lives in this great country and paid money into this system should be somewhat protected form living out their lives in terrible destitution. The only connection Social Security should have with any other entity of either the private sector or government agency is to share the records to see who is or is not a participating member of Social Security.
Medicare and Medicaid should be, again, run but the insurance companies on a competitive basis. Those who spent their lives working hard and paying taxes deserve decent medical care through their retirement years. Those who did not contribute need to seek care from the country they did contribute to or, if they chose not to work here and contribute, they must pay their own way.

A note here about the Hippocratic Oath.

Since Hippocrates, doctors are sworn that no matter what the patient’s financial status, anyone in need of medical care shall not be denied for any reason. We Americans hold this holy and not to be tread upon. There is no question that if a person is in dire need of care, that the basic life saving and infection curing procedures shall be done. But we must be good stewards of our resources. We cannot afford to extend unnecessary care to those in our society who refuse to join in the workforce. Infants and children of non working families should receive less care than those of working parents. Universal “programs” are cost prohibitive, and cannot be supported by those of us who work. While everyone should be able to receive basic emergency care, follow up and creative care needs to be limited to the working tax paying people who pay for their own insurance or otherwise pay for the services rendered.

4) Therefore, regular health insurance that is being paid for by those in society who work for society will wind up financing Medicare and Medicaid for those members of working families in need of such services through their insurance premiums.

Those in our society who absolutely cannot work because of severe birth defects or catastrophic injury will also be included to receive health care and any rehab that would enable them to get into some niche of working society.

5) We have in our present day society many people who do not participate in our tax system. Some are American born who choose not to work, but to position themselves in our current “entitlement” programs. This arterial bleeding must stop, and the only way to stop it is to disqualify the able bodied AND the able minded people who can work. I know of so many people who work as hard at staying in the system as I do working at my job! If a person has the ability to do this, he has the ability to work at something productive and should be denied benefits of the giveaway system. If such people get sick or injured, they might be able to get minimal life saving care, but no more unless they pay cash. These people should suffer more than others; as they chose their position themselves.

6) We also have an immigrant problem here in America, and that is something that we need to address; not in this legislation, but by U.S. Immigration & Naturalization. Documented legal immigrants need to be paced through the Naturalization system and either pass the American History and English tests within a certain time frame or get deported back to their country of origin and allowed to try again in 5 years. During the time they are in Citizenship Training, they need to be employed and paying taxes as part of their education. Those who pass will be made citizens and be required to work tax paying jobs at least ¾ of each year for the first 5 years, or be deported and their citizenship cancelled.

Undocumented immigrants will need to be found and deported with the 5 year penalty for not signing up legally to start. If they become in need of medical care, only life saving measures will be taken, and they will be deported as soon as they are able to travel, even if it’s on a gurney to a hospital in their country of origin, If that hospital denies them entry, well, I guess they will die at the airport in their country of origin!.

SUMMARY

If one idea reigns throughout our Constitution of the United States it is the idea that we are a free people, and as a free people, we have the freedom to work and earn our way through life as WE SEE FIT. We should be able to choose our own health insurance policies and those of our elders, as we see fit. We should also be able to choose no insurance at all, and to not work, and to suffer through a horrible death as a result. A free society will stay a healthy society, and that’s the best “universal” health plan of all.

If there is any second idea that reigns throughout the Constitution, it is to keep the Federal government out of our most personal business, and our personal health care is just about as personal as things get. After all, that’s why we have HIPAA laws. I would challenge each and every Congressman and Senator to read the HIPAA laws, and put any and all pages of the current proposed bill to the litmus test of these laws and conclude to any other answer than the obvious one; that the bill as a whole fails to abide by any laws, HIPAA or our Constitutional.

Gary Bullard
Salisbury, Md