At least I still have my health

I was requested to write about Obama’s policy stance tonight and since my primetime schedule was once again put into disarray by a news conference I thought that it would be best to discuss my views on the subject. I’m not sure how my views fall amidst the political spectrum but here it goes. Time for all of the health care aficionados out there to get their fill of news.

I will start with the points that I feel everyone agrees on. Health care is too expensive, too many people are uninsured to the point that they create an overall tax on the system, and the fear of losing coverage or being denied for a preexisting condition is overwhelming. All of those are issues that need to be addressed. However, I’m not sure the Obama plan is the right way to go about it.

First off, while he backed off the August deadline for a bill I am still upset with the timeline to begin with. Right now I see the overall health of the economy as the major focus and reforming health care is a priority but not the top priority. If this passed next year it wouldn’t be a big deal given the lead time it will take for any changes to go into effect. Given the size of the deficits that we are currently facing (and the fact that we may need another stimulus bill in the near future) this seems to be a diversion we do not need. Though I will give Obama credit for his point that the only way to get anything done in Washington is to force a deadline.

My main issue is the focus on universal coverage. The point of this version of health care reform is to get everyone insured, via the government if need be, at a rather tremendous expense to the overall system. I’m against that view because once you start down that path of universal coverage you quickly slide down the slope to socialized medicine. Sure, I’m insured via my company but if the government would also insure me what would stop my company (or any company for that matter) to stop my insurance and force me to the government plan. Pretty soon, everyone is insured by the government and we have socialized medicine.

And please do not tell me about the wonders of socialized medicine. I have been in an emergency room in England in so much pain that I blacked out at one point. I have never been through such a hellish experience as I went through that night. Every single step of the process from the waiting room onward made me wonder if the whole thing was just a massive bureaucratic joke. And what was I given for a severely separated shoulder and significant muscle tears throughout my arm? A handful of ibuprofen and a sling suitable for a Revolutionary War reenactor. Add in the year long waits for surgery in Canada for something that would get done in a week in the US and there is no way I want to go to that model.

In a way I really view universal coverage to be un-American. What we truly want is universal access to insurance. No one likes the idea of being forced to do something in this country, which is one of the reasons why we can’t even have standardized identification cards. But we do want a level of fairness for everyone. So what I would like to see is a level of catastrophic care insurance provided by private insurers but government backed that everyone will have the right to purchase. If you choose not that is your own decision and it may work out or it may bankrupt you. But you would be guaranteed an option.

So what would I want to see? Let’s have the universal access to catastrophic care as well as better regulation on what defines a preexisting condition. Make it easier to transfer coverage from employer to employer knowing that one day we will have to scrap the whole employer model anyway and go to a market based approach. Go after the inefficiencies in the current system that were going to pay for the overall changes and just take that cost out of the system to begin with. Reform the malpractice laws to help reduce the costs as well. And take the time to get it right. All government plans go over cost and we are already at an unstable deficit level as it is. We can’t add more deficits into the system so whatever we do can’t add additional cost into the system.

I’d just like to wait until we had the Dow over 9,000 before we tried to undertake such a massive project. I’d be even happier if the Dow was over 10K at which point I would feel safe in saying that the economy was back in the right direction. But right now our main focus should be on the economy and double digit unemployment. Until that comes back under control we have some much more serious issues on the table.

Wednesday Night Music Club: Also, under my medical plan The Polyphonic Spree will be located in every hospital.