Health Insurance

It seems to me the wrong sides are arguing for and against a national health insurance plan. Conservatives are against. Liberals appear to be for.

Long ago, the underwriters would sit around sipping coffee at Lloyd's in London. I was just a baby then and don't remember the details. It seems a shipper would plan a voyage across the seas. There were uncharted reefs and terrific storms. Maybe his ship would make it out and back, maybe not. Since ships cost a lot of money, not to mention the cargo, the shipper would go to the coffee house and talk to the underwriters. They had a chalkboard. They would write the details of the voyage on the board. Then, a large group would get together. The larger the group, the more the risk was diluted. The shipper paid the underwriters some money. In return, the underwriters agreed to share the expenses if the ship were lost. This practice is about as basic a form of capitalism as you can find.

Right now, the folks the conservatives deride do not pay. We who do have insurance pay for them. They get substandard care which prolongs their illness and increases costs. The provider passes the costs on by charging the rest of us more. The only people I can see that have a vested interest in continuing the present system are the providers.

I have read about union folks showing up at town hall meetings. Unions are supposed to be bad. The most powerful union in this country is the AMA. When they show up, you won't be able to get into the parking lot for all the Beamers and Benzes.

All doctors should be required to perform six years of compulsory service in the U.S Public Health Service. In return, they could get part of their fabled student loans forgiven. They get a lot of good experience, to boot.

Anyone who has read my previous posts knows my wife has a Stage IV cancer. They also know it went undiagnosed for at least ten years despite regular checkups and a litany of complaints and symptoms. Her treatments now cost over one hundred thousand dollars a year. We are fortunate that we have health insurance which is, coincidentally, overseen by the Federal government. We cannot be dropped and there is no lifetime max. Hopefully, that will not change, although there are no guarantees in life. I cannot fathom what awaits those people who are stricken with a truly catastrophic illness. Their lifetime maximum may be reached in less than a year.

I just cannot understand an argument against national health insurance. I must assume those who argue against it either have a vested interest in the current debacle or they are completely ill-informed.

If I were truly a liberal, I'd be against this national health insurance. I'd want things to continue as they are. I'd see all these people getting care and hard working folks paying for it with increased insurance premiums. I would not want to have to participate in a health insurance plan and pay to the best of my ability.

It's all backwards, as usual.