(THIS IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC.)
The US has been toying with the notion of a national healthcare plan for many years. Ever since the 1966 advent of Medicare people have asked “why can’t we have a national plan like all those other countries?” Hilary Clinton tried in the early 1990’s and President Obama partially succeeded during his reign in getting a version of national medical coverage out to the masses. But a true and unconditional plan is still far from reality.
The reason we have failed so far is painfully (pardon the pun) evident. All attempts to-date have been politically inspired. The candidate wants votes so he/she supports national health. The devil hiding in the details trips up every poorly designed plan because we don’t have the right planners for the job.
Our suggestion…first, estimate demand. Everyone wants to be taken care of. But this is a question of cost. How do we pay for a plan? Look around you. It is not our purpose to pass judgment on individuals but reality is impossible to ignore and so we must see the demand for what it will include.
As Americans, we eat too much, smoke too much, use drugs and alcohol too much, ignore seat belt use, engage in dangerous sports…the list goes on. If you need an obvious current example, consider all the anti-vaxxers who, despite a deadly and highly contagious virus, refuse to take advantage of a simple vaccination that could save their life and the lives of their family members and friends. See what I mean? These are the people who want to be completely covered for ALL MEDICAL EXPENSES even if they pay no attention to their own health and safety. It’s like buying homeowners insurance and then deciding to grill out IN YOUR BASEMENT–knowing that if the house burns down you’ll have the insurance money to re-build.
And as for those other countries who have a national healthcare plan, their plans are full of issues we as a country would NEVER accept. The wait for care is 6 to 9 months or longer for surgery–even if the condition is life-threatening. The cost is huge by our standards. In the Netherlands the payroll tax deduction is over 30% of pay for their national healthcare plan.
CONCLUSION: look at the TV or newspaper and notice how many obese people are shown. Think about the impact on cost for their care for heart, liver, kidney , skeletal and other problems. And multiply that dollar amount times the estimated 250 million of Americans are overweight. And then ask yourself “do I want to pay for people who will not take care of themselves and expect me to pay for the consequences?”
NEXT TIME: PARTNERING TO START THE PLANNING
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