Fundamental Right to Health Care

Do we as citizens of the United States of America have a fundamental right to health care services? That is a large part of the discussion currently at hand. I would hold that we do not. Health care is (as implied) a service which can be purchased, or not. I have a right to purchase as much or as little as I can afford, or choose.

I also have the right to educate myself and to provide health care services to others. For providing these services, I have a right to expect compensation commensurate with my skills and the demand for those skills.

I also have the right to open a business to provide health care insurance. The simple explanation for this is that to my large pool of customers I agree to pay for certain health care services should they be needed. These would normally include needs resulting from accidents or the onset of disease. Out of my pool of customers, some will always be healthy, and never require these insured services and it is from monies paid by them that I will pay the agreed on expenses of my customers who are less fortunate. However, I must be careful not to charge too little for my promise to pay, and not to promise to pay too much in relation to what I charge. If either of these conditions exists, then I will not make a profit and my efforts and capital will be better and more productively spent in some other area of business.

As a consumer I have a right to expect that the health care services that I buy meet certain standards, and the government has licensing boards set up for that very purpose. I also have a right to expect that the companies that I buy my insurance from are treating me fairly, but this is not an industry that needs to be tightly regulated by the government. All the government need do in this case is to insure competition. To insure that I have the option to buy my insurance from whoever will sell me the services I want at the lowest price. That’s all. Competition (market forces) will then depress prices to the fair market value.

I also have the right as a citizen and consumer to expect that the civil justice system will protect me from the malpractice of incompetent healthcare providers. But I also have the right NOT to have my health care and insurance costs increased because of the practice of extremely defensive medicine, frivolous lawsuits and outrageous jury awards for pain and suffering fostered by trial lawyers who have nothing to lose by filing suit, and juries who believe insurance companies are bottomless wells of money. The government can be constructive here by setting reasonable standards for medical tests, limits on compensatory and punitive damages, and some disincentive to discourage the malpractice “lottery” industry.

The United States is a country that was built on self reliance and free market principles. If government run health care were as good as an idea in practice as it is on paper, people would be traveling to Canada, Great Britain and Cuba for services. We are also a nation with great compassion for our fellows and a desire to assist those less fortunate than ourselves. We need to make the relatively small regulatory changes to the health care and insurance systems we have in order to make them more consumer, and market friendly and then provide for the under served with any necessary tax credits and subsidies to make sure that no one goes without.

And that’s what an average guy thinks.

Single Payer System

Lets us stipulate a couple of things up front: A) Even though it’s not perfect by a long shot, the health care system in the U. S. is perhaps the best in the world, attracting high profile cancer and cardiac patients from around the world. B) The health insurance sector needs some work.

All of this hubbub about health care is causing me a great deal of angst. Not because of the health part, or the insurance reform, but because of what’s being referred to as the “public option”. It should be referred to as the “government option”, because that’s what it is.

To start with, the administration led off with a huge economic stimulus package. It was CRITICAL that we act immediately to save ourselves from sliding into a DEPRESSION. Now about 10% of that $800B dollars has been spent and the economy (according to administration sources) has begun to show signs of recovery, but I don’t hear anyone saying that since the recovery has begun perhaps we should return 90% of the stimulus for a credit on our national credit card. Instead, we are being told that even though the recovery has begun, it is once again critical to the recovery that we adopt a sweeping overhaul of the entire health care system. Well, it’s critical alright, but only to the administration and its plans to socialize the health care system. I hate to use that word (socialize) but what else is it?

The President has said (in speeches over the last 5 or 6 years) that he favors what is called the “single payer system” “the public option’. That single payer is the federal government. He’s said it again and again, noting that it may not be wholly achievable at first, but incrementally over 10, 15, or 20 years. Top Democrat legislators seem to share his views. And the public option will mean “No Option At All”.

The President and his advisors are all adherents to Rham Emanuel’s edict of “Never Let a Good Crisis Go To Waste”. The economy’s in the toilet? Ram through a HUGE stimulus package that funds every pet project of every majority legislator, is only partially needed and may or may not do any good. Who’s going to oppose it? The economy’s still in the toilet? QUICK! Ram through a health care revolution before anyone has a chance to read it or even know what’s in it.

If this nonsense doesn’t stop, this is what will happen: The federal government will establish a program similar to Medicare or Medicaid…… Call it ObamaCare just for fun. It will be set up to provide “competition” to private insurance companies and to provide coverage for those that don’t have any. There’s argument about how many “AMERICANS” that actually is, but for sure it will be all of the 12 to 15 million aliens who are residing here illegally now. They can’t work here legally, penalties for companies and persons who aid them are high, but under ObamaCare they will receive the best that the rest of us taxpayers can offer. This is a subject for another time.

Initially, this won’t be that big a deal, but the feds have real deep pockets (as we know) and as time goes by, private companies won’t be able to compete. Take me as an example….. I’m in the job market, and I have to have $20/hr just to make ends meet. But old John across the street has a rich uncle (we can call him Sam) that makes his house payment for him and he only has to have $16/hr. Who’re they gonna hire? Forget that I’m better looking and better at what I do. They can get John for 25% less that what I need to survive…… John’s gett’n the gig and I’m gonna have to ….. go for retraining I guess, or put my house in foreclosure. And so the ObamaCare program will grow and grow and efforts to control it will be more useless every year because the voter base that’s enrolled in it will get bigger and bigger.

Eventually there won’t be any private health insurance and there will be a “single payer” system. When this happens only the very wealthy (self insured) will have access to the system that most of us take for granted now.

And that’s what an average guy thinks.