HEALTH INSURANCE

Yes, our healthcare system has issues we need to address but the quality of care in the United States is second to none.

Before we address specifics we need to address a misconception: A Right cannot be something that is taken from another. If someone else has to pay for it, it is not a "right". Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are rights, health insurance cannot. This was discussed in the second debate and Sen. Obama was wrong. My neighbor has no right to something I earned.

In 2000, the World Health Organization put out a ranking of the world's health care system and ranked the U.S. as having the 37^th best health care system in the world. 37^th??? How could that be? I thought we were the best. Let's take a closer look at why the ranking was lower than expected. First, the WHO has an agenda, they hope they can promote an ideological change to a more universal system. They want everyone to have health coverage and use their rankings as a tool to achieve this. The major factor that placed the U.S. as 37^th is the fact the U.S. does not have universal coverage. It has nothing to do with the quality of care. In addition, many of the factors they use are subjective and are based on assumptions on the relative importance of the components. This is not an objective report! They want to encourage countries to adopt a universal health care system so they created a report to help facilitate their goal.

Let's take a look at health care here in the U.S.

• Anyone can go to a hospital that receives government funds and they will not be turned away. They are not going to let someone die in the parking lot. When they realize the patient is unable to pay they write off the care. So, we are not talking health care we are talking health insurance.
  
• What we are really talking about is redistribution of wealth. Another program where the wealthy foot the bill for the many.
  
• No plans suggested have done anything to deal with the cost of the coverage just who is paying for it.
  
• Due to the bureaucracies, there is virtually nothing the government can do more effective or efficient as than the private sector.

What the system needs is competition and currently there is virtually none. Ask a doctor's office what a procedure will cost. You will get a variety of answers but not a price. Providers are use to billing insurance companies an excessive amount to max out the amount they will pay for a procedure. When someone else is paying the bill you are not too concerned about the price. What if providers were forced to publicize what they charge for the different procedures? Imagine, "I think we need an MRI and it will cost $1,200." What if everyone paid their own bills?

In 2003 President George W. Bush signed a health care bill and part of this bill was the establishment of Health Savings Accounts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_savings_account The HSA works with a high deductible health care policy and gives the individual the ability to put that amount into an account tax free. Since the plan has a high deductible the premiums are cheaper. Any money left in the account after paying health care expenses is treated similar to an IRA. The worst case scenario is the bills are paid with pre-tax money. The best case is there are no health care bills and the individual gets to keep the money. Since they get to keep any savings, HASs make the individuals aware of what they spend and what is being billed to the insurance company. I have an HAS and here are some examples of the benefits:

1. I wanted to buy custom arch supports so I called a guy my Sports Medicine doctored recommended. I called the guy and asked him how much they were since I was paying and he said $250 so I set up an appointment. He molded my feet, ordered the orthotics, called me back when they were ready and I was on my way. I received a bill for $800. They had billed me for 3 therapy sessions (1 to tell me I needed them, 1 to mold my feet, and 1 when I tried them on when I picked them up) on top of the inserts. The guy worked for a hospital and that was the way they did it and that is the way most health care providers work. Since I was paying out of pocket I fought the bill.
   
2. In 2005 I had an episode where I thought I was having a heart attack. I went to the hospital and had several tests which all proved I didn't have a heart attack and I was feeling better. At this point the doctor had decided it looked more like an anxiety attack but still wanted to run some tests. After I told her I was paying out of pocket she was comfortable not running more test.
   
3. My daughter hurt her foot playing soccer and after the doctor reviewed the x-rays he wanted to have an MRI. I asked him what he could find that would change the treatment and he said nothing he just wanted a better look. We did not have the MRI.

Health Savings Accounts may not be the answer to everyone's needs. I do not have all the answers to our health care problems but there are characteristics that need to be part of the solution and most importantly is competition, both insurer and provider. Somehow we need to get competition in prescription drugs. The most important characteristic we DO NOT need is government control!!! Obama's plan is the first step towards national health care, a single payor system. His plan will not go far enough and will need to take it a step farther and government take over.

I believe neither candidate's plans make the changes needed to address our health insurance problems but I take great exception with a characteristic of Obama's plan, eliminating pre-existing conditions. This is a fundamental part of health insurance plans. Think about it, if there were no pre-existing conditions clause on a policy people could wait until they were seriously ill before buying coverage. I could pay for all my Doctor visits and prescriptions until I found out I was seriously ill and then buy a policy. This is just an empty promise that sounds so good but is totally impractical.