How F’d Are We dot Com

According to a 2006 National Center for Health Statistics study, there are 43.3 million uninsured U.S. citizens. This means that roughly one in seven of you, your family members, your neighbors, your co-workers, your peers, etc., have minimal financial assistance when it comes to personal healthcare needs. That’s right! The world’s richest and most powerful nation doesn’t even provide full medical assistance to 15 percent of its own citizens!

Critics of universal healthcare will argue that the uninsured are generally low-income individuals and children; therefore they are eligible for state and government funded healthcare programs—Medicaid, Medicare, or some other health coverage program funded by Social Security. The problem with this system is the middleman—HMOs. Whether you have private health coverage or qualify for a state assisted health coverage plan, the money used to pay for medical expenses passes through the HMOs’ hands before reaching the doctor’s office or hospital that performed the procedure. But most importantly, HMOs determine healthcare eligibility!

So if the HMOs are the problem, the solution would appear to be the removal of their existence and roll in healthcare completely. Not necessarily, or at least not yet. We merely need for them to function as what they were initially intended for… health insurance. Many nations that practice universal healthcare—the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Canada, Cuba, etc.; also offer their citizens additional healthcare coverage at an expense to the insured. Basically this form of health insurance allows those with the means, to receive premium health services; such as shorter waiting periods to see specialists and private hospital rooms.

These countries don’t allow HMOs to determine the level of coverage individuals are eligible to receive.

Instead, everyone receives the healthcare they are in need of—no questions asked!

Shouldn’t Americans be allowed that same freedom? …All Americans, from Navajos, the homeless, veterans, Blacks, Whites, the elderly, Hispanics, Texans, New Yorkers, Muslims, Democrats, and even Detroit Pistons fans??

RJ

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 1:52 pm and is filed under Healthcare. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.