Len M. Nichols blames extremists on the right and left for blocking his strategies for reducing the number of uninsured Americans. In many ways, he’s correct, but I think he misreads the right, which is not just worried about the taxes that would be needed to finance a government-funded national health insurance program. The right and most moderates also don’t trust the government to run a cost effective health care program that wouldn’t be corrupted by politics.
My latest commentary on the uninsured and what to do them follows:
Begin by getting rid of the 12 million to 15 million illegal immigrants and their American-born dependents. This won’t happen, but a big percentage of the uninsured are illegal immigrants.
Follow that up by requiring everyone who pays Medicare and Social Security taxes to prove that they buy at least catastrophic coverage, not insurance bloated with mandated benefits.
Improve K-16 education. An educated public would be an employed public and a public that could afford and would know how to buy the health insurance they need.
Require all private insurers to put all their insureds in one national or several regional risk pools and to community rate everyone they insure, not risk rate them, which facilitates skimming.
Get employers out of the insurance business. Everyone should purchase their insurance directly from insurers. Employers and politicians are dishonest brokers and have screwed the health care markets up for years.
Breakup HCA and the not-for-profit ologopolistic multi-hospital systems that refuse to negotiate with United Healthcare and other insurers.
Breakup regional and national health insurers, which have been so successful in lobbying against health insurance industry reforms that would benefit consumers.
Take politicians out of the health insurance business. They are in over their heads and their decisions are made to benefit their campaign treasuries, not their constituents.
I don’t want Bill Ritter, Ken Salazar, Wayne Allarad, George Bush, John McCain or Hillary Clinton to make my health care decisions for me. Anyone who wants mamma Clintion to take care of them is a sorry excuse for a an adult. Their job is to create a structure for efficient, regulated heath care markets. That would not give them the power they want over health care, and they aren’t interested in making health care markets more efficient.
I’ve posted on the “uninsured” several times on this blog since January 2003. Search “uninsured” in the third column.
