In a climate full of misinformation and an atmosphere of fervently held positions this article is not about the current conflicts but about the need for a solution. Just say no is not a solution. It is in effect putting your head in the sand and then taking a breath!
The topic of health touches everything in our lives, from birth, to death, to what we eat every day. Covering the entire topic would fill volumes. Thus, in this limited space I want to discuss health insurance and healthcare. They are not the same thing!
Here’s the insurance part. Insurance was originally created to shift risk from one person to another for a fee. One of the simplest examples is life insurance. When someone buys life insurance a calculation is made that evaluates how old the person is and how long they will live and a price is quoted. Let’s say it costs $100 a month to pay $5,000 when the person dies. If the person is 20 years old and they expect to live to a normal age of say 70, they will have paid $60,000 (50 years x 12 months x $100). Not a very good deal. That person should simply put $100 a month into savings. If our person is age 69 then the deal is pretty good.
Now, according to Benjamin Franklin, this death thing is a certainty so the life insurance calculation was relatively easy. But cancer, broken bones and the flu are not certain. So here’s the health part. Since everyone’s health is uncertain it is much harder to “cover” such things with insurance. If we do try to cover it we have to define what we mean by “health”? Let’s say we want to make it simple. We want to cover people when they get sick. Who decides whether the patient is really sick or not? Does the insurance pay for the doctor visit any way? What part of the visit is paid for? And this questioning can go on, and on, and on. Even a simple concept like being sick can be a problem to cover with insurance.
But a healthy nation is a priority. Our capitalistic economy requires it in order to function. Of course the only way insurance can be considered is by using tight definitions of what is covered and what is not covered. This legal ease creates things like “pre-existing conditions” and makes it nearly impossible for someone to understand what they have purchased. And when we finally do have the definitions agreed to and the coverage understood we will still need to fight with the insurance company to make them pay.
In order for an insurance company to stay in business it must make a profit, and the easiest way to do that is to deny coverage. It is in the company’s best interest to fight about what should be paid. They will fight with the doctor and hospital about the amount of the bill and they will also fight with the patient about the coverage itself. All of this is done in the name of capitalism.
“Enough!” you might say. Just let everyone cover themselves, carry their own risk. Unfortunately we Americans are terrible at saving money. And if you have ever had someone in your family need healthcare, you know that most of us can’t even afford something like a broken bone. Much less cancer, or having a baby! Of course if you do go to a hospital they won’t turn you away. But it’s not free. And if we, all of us, don’t help pay for it (with higher premiums), every hospital and doctor will be out of business.
Of course when we pay for something that doesn’t benefit us directly, aren’t we “redistributing wealth” or engaging in “socialism”? There they are! The dreaded curse words de jour. Many have said that these words alone, warranted or not, are reason enough to oppose something. (How’s that sand taste?) But I believe that a heads-up, thinking and involved public can get past these inappropriate monikers and deal in concrete solutions. This system is broken and we must fix it.
Having a healthy and productive public is a lot like having safe streets to drive on. We don’t want to rely upon our neighbors to fix potholes in front of their houses (not to mention what we would do to maintain intersections, stoplights and street lights). We want safe streets for everyone all the time. That is why we give money to the city (we pay taxes).
Those of us that have coverage are paying for those who don’t. But we don’t have any control. Let’s take control. Instead of paying an insurance company extra premiums let’s move some of our money into some kind of government plan that acts as a safety net, or at least a minimum of coverage. If you lose your job you may need that safety net.
All we need now is to have a very serious discussion on what should be in this minimum and what should be left for us to individually cover. So let’s at least have the discussion. Then, as with any democracy, let majority rule. If we, all of us, take care of the health of our nation, then we, all of us, might just be able to help you take care of your health.
Editor’s Note: This guest editorial is offered by Bruce Bushong, a teacher at Shawnee High School. The views expressed by our guest editorialists and guest columnists are theirs, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the News-Star’s management.
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In a climate full of misinformation and an atmosphere of fervently held positions this article is not about the current conflicts but about the need for a solution. Just say no is not a solution. It is in effect putting your head in the sand and then taking a breath!
The topic of health touches everything in our lives, from birth, to death, to what we eat every day. Covering the entire topic would fill volumes. Thus, in this limited space I want to discuss health insurance and healthcare. They are not the same thing!
Here’s the insurance part. Insurance was originally created to shift risk from one person to another for a fee. One of the simplest examples is life insurance. When someone buys life insurance a calculation is made that evaluates how old the person is and how long they will live and a price is quoted. Let’s say it costs $100 a month to pay $5,000 when the person dies. If the person is 20 years old and they expect to live to a normal age of say 70, they will have paid $60,000 (50 years x 12 months x $100). Not a very good deal. That person should simply put $100 a month into savings. If our person is age 69 then the deal is pretty good.
Now, according to Benjamin Franklin, this death thing is a certainty so the life insurance calculation was relatively easy. But cancer, broken bones and the flu are not certain. So here’s the health part. Since everyone’s health is uncertain it is much harder to “cover” such things with insurance. If we do try to cover it we have to define what we mean by “health”? Let’s say we want to make it simple. We want to cover people when they get sick. Who decides whether the patient is really sick or not? Does the insurance pay for the doctor visit any way? What part of the visit is paid for? And this questioning can go on, and on, and on. Even a simple concept like being sick can be a problem to cover with insurance.
But a healthy nation is a priority. Our capitalistic economy requires it in order to function. Of course the only way insurance can be considered is by using tight definitions of what is covered and what is not covered. This legal ease creates things like “pre-existing conditions” and makes it nearly impossible for someone to understand what they have purchased. And when we finally do have the definitions agreed to and the coverage understood we will still need to fight with the insurance company to make them pay.
In order for an insurance company to stay in business it must make a profit, and the easiest way to do that is to deny coverage. It is in the company’s best interest to fight about what should be paid. They will fight with the doctor and hospital about the amount of the bill and they will also fight with the patient about the coverage itself. All of this is done in the name of capitalism.
“Enough!” you might say. Just let everyone cover themselves, carry their own risk. Unfortunately we Americans are terrible at saving money. And if you have ever had someone in your family need healthcare, you know that most of us can’t even afford something like a broken bone. Much less cancer, or having a baby! Of course if you do go to a hospital they won’t turn you away. But it’s not free. And if we, all of us, don’t help pay for it (with higher premiums), every hospital and doctor will be out of business.
Of course when we pay for something that doesn’t benefit us directly, aren’t we “redistributing wealth” or engaging in “socialism”? There they are! The dreaded curse words de jour. Many have said that these words alone, warranted or not, are reason enough to oppose something. (How’s that sand taste?) But I believe that a heads-up, thinking and involved public can get past these inappropriate monikers and deal in concrete solutions. This system is broken and we must fix it.
Having a healthy and productive public is a lot like having safe streets to drive on. We don’t want to rely upon our neighbors to fix potholes in front of their houses (not to mention what we would do to maintain intersections, stoplights and street lights). We want safe streets for everyone all the time. That is why we give money to the city (we pay taxes).
Those of us that have coverage are paying for those who don’t. But we don’t have any control. Let’s take control. Instead of paying an insurance company extra premiums let’s move some of our money into some kind of government plan that acts as a safety net, or at least a minimum of coverage. If you lose your job you may need that safety net.
All we need now is to have a very serious discussion on what should be in this minimum and what should be left for us to individually cover. So let’s at least have the discussion. Then, as with any democracy, let majority rule. If we, all of us, take care of the health of our nation, then we, all of us, might just be able to help you take care of your health.
Editor’s Note: This guest editorial is offered by Bruce Bushong, a teacher at Shawnee High School. The views expressed by our guest editorialists and guest columnists are theirs, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the News-Star’s management.
