Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach — Healthcare & VA
III. Healthcare Issues
Healthcare
It is frequently – and correctly – asserted by people who care for others that healthcare is a right, not a privilege reserved only for those who can pay for it. Yet, universal coverage for all has been vigorously opposed by the right wing and by insurance companies for at least the 70 years since Truman proposed it, and probably longer. In 2010 we barely managed to enact the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare), which provided healthcare coverage for millions who could not previously afford it. In the intervening years, Obamacare has proven a godsend to many and is extremely popular. Yet even this act failed to close all the gaps and cover all the needs.
The current administration, with active help from the GOP caucus in congress, is doing its best to roll back even this modest improvement in our healthcare system. They are also trying to undermine and even eliminate Medicare and Medicaid. They seem to think that going back to a system where only the well-to-do are entitled to the best healthcare available would be the best solution. Of course, the health insurance companies are on board with this approach because it would increase their profits. In fact, the insurance lobby pours billions of dollars into supporting and electing candidates who oppose universal healthcare.
Universal healthcare coverage is not only the most logical way to provide healthcare, it is also the least expensive way. Most European countries plus Canada have such coverage. They do this at a fraction of the cost for our society and with superior results. In those societies, there are indeed some complaints about wait times and ready availability of medical practitioners (complaints that are mostly unfounded), but these are minor when compared to millions of people bereft of healthcare in America, and others who are forced into bankruptcy to pay their medical bills or who die because of inability to afford needed care.
Instituting Medicare for all would be one way to provide universal coverage, and it has the advantage of being able to adapt a system already in place and already overwhelmingly popular for those who currently use it.
It would be difficult but not impossible to overcome the resistance of the insurance lobby, as was done on a partial basis with the passing of Obamacare in 2010. However, all that is needed is enough socially-conscious and economically realistic members of congress.
Privatization of Healthcare and the VA
The right-wing efforts to privatize healthcare are simply aimed at increasing profits for physicians, insurance companies, and for-profit hospital organizations. Those who will suffer from this include over 95% of the American public and employers, who will have to pay more for poorer results or will have to go without. This harks back to the bad old days when good healthcare was a privilege granted only to those who could afford it.
The privatization efforts aimed at Medicare would cause a dramatic increase in premiums for its subscribers, combined with uneven results based on state-by-state and insurance-company-by-insurance-company policies. In short, where you live and how wealthy you are will greatly determine your access to good health.
One of the most glaring efforts at privatization is aimed at the Veterans Administration. The VA – for all its well-documented faults (which it has been tackling, at least until recently) – is an extremely popular and much needed program that goes a long way toward the nation keeping its promise to take care of its veterans who have served their country. The VA is in fact the second-largest government agency (after Defense) and has a long history of caring for those who have served. Despite its size and cost, it offers healthcare to veterans at a much lower cost per capita than does the private healthcare market. To privatize the VA would be to add cost, confusion, and unnecessary complication to healthcare for veterans and would rouse their ire to unknowable heights. As a veteran myself, I have yet to meet a veteran who supports privatization of the VA system.
The obvious solution to this is NOT to privatize the VA, and furthermore to offer similar healthcare benefits to all our citizens. Whether this is done via a Medicare-for-all approach, or a reshaping healthcare into another government-sponsored format, it is desperately needed to bring the U.S. into line with other industrial nations who have successfully instituted socialized medicine that costs less and produces better results.
Continued in Part 12 — Big Pharma
Other options:
Return to Part 1 — Prologue
Return to Part 2 — Voting & Election Issues
Return to Part 3 — Gerrymandering & Courts
Return to Part 4 — Congress
Return to Part 5 — President and DOJ
Return to Part 6 — Campaign Financing
Return to Part 7 — Lying and Ethics
Return to Part 8 — Sexism and LGBT
Return to Part 9 — Abortion & Church/State
Return to Part 10 — Guns
Go to Part 13 — Environment
Go to Part 14 — Energy
Go to Part 15 — Education
Go to Part 16 — Economics
Go to Part 17 — Unions, Safety Net
Go to Part 18 — Homelessness
Go to Part 19 — Trade, Tariffs
Go to Part 20 — Media
Go to Part 21 — War, National Security
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Above is the eleventh of numerous submissions wherein I suggest ways our country, our government, and the world can be made better. I am an old fart in my 70’s and have seen much: the turmoil of the 1960’s; Vietnam (where I served as an infantry officer and was awarded a purple heart and other medals); the anti-Vietnam protests (in which I participated while still in uniform); Watergate, the rise of the right wing attack on the poor and powerless during and after the Reagan years; the continued wars in Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan and pretty much everywhere else; the Clinton years, the invasion of Iraq in 2002 and the never-ending war since; the brief glow of sunshine during the Obama years; and now Trump. While my dog in this fight is getting long in the tooth, I still deeply care about three things: my country, my country’s honor, and the future we leave to our descendants. My personal history, other than military service, includes college teaching, computer support, hospital IT supervision, consulting, and now — in my retirement — substitute teaching.
I make my recommendations in all seriousness, recognizing that most of them are not immediately attainable. Nevertheless, if we elect people who share our values as our representatives at all levels of government, we can accomplish much.