Government healthcare

Hi

There is a lot of discussion going on concerning government health care, now I am adding my opinion.

To really understand this situation we must look at the entire health care situation. We find it divided into segments with two glaring areas ripe for improvement. The first is the many uninsured and the second is the problems of cos and transferability of the insurance already in place. Lets address them separately.

For the easier problem involving cost and transferability there is an easy solution. Currently insurance companies are not allowed to write health care insurance across state lines. When you consider that we allow auto and life insurance companies to cross state lines, doesn't it make sense to allow health care companies to have the same opportunities. The lobbyists for the AARP and other groups that get monies from insurers claim that this will led to higher costs. Just the opposite is true. If an insurer in Pennsylvania is cheaper than one in Washington,DC, you can solve the problem by allowing the carrier in Pennsylvania to write insurance for DC Contrary to what these lobbyists say the insurance companies that charge lower premiums would not increase premiums, but, in order to keep customers, they would be forced to keep premiums low. Raising premiums only keeps new customers from changing their coverage. The higher priced coverage is the one that would lose and in order to keep their existing customers and attract new ones, those insurance carriers would have to lower their premiums. Now just multiply this scenario by the carriers in all states and you can see how the market place supply and demand principle would have a serious effect on lowering premiums.

The second problem facing those who have adequate coverage is the thing known as "preexisting conditions". This is usually one of the problems when an insured moves across state lines and must get new coverage. If we correct the requirement that only in state residents can be covered, we basically solve this problem. Why are politicians so reluctant to use common sense and pass this type of legislation? The American people deserve better from our elected leaders.

Another area of correction is the modification of tort reform legislation. Doctors and health care provider pay an enormous amount of money for malpractice insurance. Actually, we pay it through higher doctor fees. If we were to adopt some form of a cap on damages, especially punitive damages, we could lower costs. Again this is a problem for politicians because they serve special interests, namely groups like trial lawyers. Why don't the politicians look out for the people? I repeat, we deservebetter.

Still another area of correction that can be made is in the advertising of prescription medications. We've seen them all over our TV sets. They always add a caution to talk to your doctor. Great, but if my doctor needs me to tell him what prescription medicine is good for my condition, I want another doctor. The cost of these TV ads is just added to the cost of the medicine, wouldn't you rather have that cost transferred to research where new and better medication could be developed. I know I would.

In my nest writing I will address the question of the uninsured, bear with me and stay tuned.

Pray for our brave service people.
GOD Bless