It does not take a bleeding heart Massachusetts' liberal to perceive that the greatest defense a nation has is in its health and enlightenment. To cast a shadow over millions of its citizens in fear of not only its health but of the economic disaster for their loved ones is monstrous. To abandon the severely addictive and the mortally inflicted is callousness unbefitting a government of good will, and in callous economic terms more costly even in the short run. Insurance, not just medical, should not be left to the whim of a citizen or the sales pitch of an insurance agent. All but trinket insurance should be nationalized to the degree that high risk pools be eliminated — from house insurance to life. Every citizen born under this flag should be guaranteed victim-protection from the scourges of chance but at the same time should not become millionaires because of misfortune.
Medical insurance is now; it would be shameful for the nation to continue into this new century without this moral exigency behind us. The health of a nation is so prima facie , without which enlightenment fades, that medical insurance should not be left to the bargaining table nor to limited generosity of the employer. Citizens should expect the same degree of protection as those in government and the armed services. Contrary to the common belief that this would make the nation "insurance poor," it would actually reduce costs which are so high now precisely because health insurance is so haphazard that premiums are significantly higher to protect the policy underwriter and owner against the uninsured whose medical bills go unpaid, not to mention all the cost shifting to the states’ Medicaid system. In face of the increasing numbers of niggardly employers, it is far better to initiate universal coverage through a marginal payroll tax subject to W4 taxable income.
To expect a young kid with a healthy body just starting out on minimum wage to go beyond mandated car insurance and voluntarily take on health insurance is a wish out of Oz. Nor can one expect a family breadwinner making $20,000 a year to click on the Blue Cross website. A tax must be mandated on one's ability to pay. As a matter of fact, mandated co-payments and deductibles in the Medicare plan should be proportionately based also on one's ability to pay. To treat an elder who relies solely on his social security to pay the first $650 when hospitalized on an equal plane with a retiree whose income is $50,000 is not only ridiculous but plainly dumb.
A voter that believes in the TLC of an insurance company is brain dead. Strange, isn't it, that once Hillary was silenced by Harry and Louise, medical cost again soared? — though admittedly under lingering pressure not as much because insurance companies are railroading the insured and physicians into cut-rate HMOs. A person who is content with existing medical insurance and doesn't want change is one who is damned confident he or she is not going to get the pink slip and doesn't give a damn about the fellow worker who does get the dreaded notice.
A senior citizen who is against "government-run" Medicare or someone below the poverty line who is against Medicaid belongs in a mental institution. Nevertheless, and unbelievably, voters in 1994 cut off their nose to spite their face by rejecting a reasonable proposal to terminate the ever-occurring chaotic health care scene.
Embedded forever in the national memory are the Republican politicians brazenly standing on the steps of the Capitol waving their so-called Contract, but not one dared burn his or her medical contract for which the public pays 70%.
Copyright © 2004 Richard R. Kennedy All rights reserved. Revised: January 30, 2004.