There are few voices arguing that US health care should be left to continue as is. It’s the proposed solutions that put us at odds. We who are employed, those of us looking for jobs, plus large and small employers all want a system that will keep us alive and healthy, if only so that we can continue to find good jobs or keep good employees.
As proposed solutions emerge, we hear claims that this or that reform will bankrupt us. Counterclaims argue that the way things are will also bankrupt us, only sooner. The overwhelming majority of those involved in the debate agree that costs are too high and heading for greater heights.
We can’t go on this way.
While a smaller and smaller number of us may always be able to afford health care, few of us feel completely comfortable with the fact that such a prosperous nation does not make sure that all of its members have easy access to preventive as well as corrective care.
Is it safe to say that we all know someone who works and cannot afford health care? A friend, whom I’ve worked with for many years, has taken a pay cut that leaves him with just enough money to pay for his health care coverage.
Don’t we all know someone who has been refused coverage or denied service? A neighbor used to drive car between lots for a car dealer, who did not provide health care coverage. When my neighbor was diagnosed with diabetes, he could not afford his meds, until he found an employer who offered health care benefits with an insurer to cover him. Problem solved, except that the car dealer still needs someone to drive cars between lots and still can’t afford to provide that person with health care benefits.
We need people to drive cars between lots. We need restaurant busers and bike messengers. The guy who sells icy bottles of water from the street corner to passing motorists should have affordable health care. It just makes good sense. If only because it costs more to treat them when they get sick.
Evaluating the proposals
The money for health care will come from you and me. But how and how much? In the end, that’s what we’re being asked to decide.
As you will see in the slide show Healthcare Napkins All, right now health care providers and insurers are at odds in the battle for our dollars. We, the people with jobs and the employers who pay us, end up getting hit with the ever escalating costs that result from this adversarial relationship.
All of the proposals currently under serious consideration offer a fix. What’s more, they all
1. cover more people
2. let you keep your current coverage
3. let you keep your health care provider.
Listening to the clamor of the debate, we’d never know this. Keeping it in mind might help us job seekers, the employed, and employers to decide which plan to advocate.
In the next installment, Nobody’s Telling the Truth, we’ll identify more of the myths and lies that cloud the health care debate.
Everything dynamic and very positively!
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