Health Care
Feel free to skip this if you want, it is political in nature. However, most things, I'm learning are.
I am beyond lucky to have health insurance. The bills are piling up, but my insurance is paying the vast majority of them and our out of pocket max is low. We won't go broke. We won't lose our house, car, and be forced into bankruptcy while at the same time going through cancer treatment. But not everyone can afford this; not every employer offers this coverage, for whatever reason. We cannot as a society leave people to go bankrupt and lose everything to fight a disease or to cover the costs of an accident that leaves them in need of medical care. We, as a society, have a moral obligation to provide healthcare for everyone. Healthcare that is determined not by insurance companies, but by doctors' recommendations in consultation with their patients.
How should we do this? Well, the ACA (Obamacare) is a decent start. Requiring people to have insurance increases the pool, which increases the ability to cover more people. Requiring insurance coverage to meet certain basic standards- provisions for mental health care, substance abuse care, maternity care etc. provides a minimum of care. But let's be honest, the ACA isn't working great. Two cases in point, both friends. One who would like to get healthcare coverage but falls just above medicaid and just below getting a subsidy to cover insurance, so she is without coverage. Second, insurance companies can still refuse coverage for tests that doctors deem medically necessary if that test doesn't fall into their approved because of x category. This is also unacceptable. How can we bring down the cost of healthcare and cover everyone? My vote is for a single payer system. If you're worried about quality of care, check this out. According to the WHO we're already in 37th place, and many have socialized/single payer systems, including Canada. According to a study of ten nations, we're dead last. Pun intended.
We can do better; we must do better.
I am beyond lucky to have health insurance. The bills are piling up, but my insurance is paying the vast majority of them and our out of pocket max is low. We won't go broke. We won't lose our house, car, and be forced into bankruptcy while at the same time going through cancer treatment. But not everyone can afford this; not every employer offers this coverage, for whatever reason. We cannot as a society leave people to go bankrupt and lose everything to fight a disease or to cover the costs of an accident that leaves them in need of medical care. We, as a society, have a moral obligation to provide healthcare for everyone. Healthcare that is determined not by insurance companies, but by doctors' recommendations in consultation with their patients.
How should we do this? Well, the ACA (Obamacare) is a decent start. Requiring people to have insurance increases the pool, which increases the ability to cover more people. Requiring insurance coverage to meet certain basic standards- provisions for mental health care, substance abuse care, maternity care etc. provides a minimum of care. But let's be honest, the ACA isn't working great. Two cases in point, both friends. One who would like to get healthcare coverage but falls just above medicaid and just below getting a subsidy to cover insurance, so she is without coverage. Second, insurance companies can still refuse coverage for tests that doctors deem medically necessary if that test doesn't fall into their approved because of x category. This is also unacceptable. How can we bring down the cost of healthcare and cover everyone? My vote is for a single payer system. If you're worried about quality of care, check this out. According to the WHO we're already in 37th place, and many have socialized/single payer systems, including Canada. According to a study of ten nations, we're dead last. Pun intended.
We can do better; we must do better.
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