Col. 12, July, 2009: Why aren't we in charge of our own health?

Humane Healthcare

by Christina Hazelwood
Kudos to U.S. President Barrack Obama for having the courage to, once again, take up the issue of healthcare reform in the U.S. It is sorely needed in this country. I hope the results will be more effective than Obama’s stimulus plan has, so far, been.

Although I disagree with U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy’s belief that healthcare is a citizen’s “right,” it is humane and compassionate. In a country such as ours that boasts high-tech medicine, cutting edge pharmaceuticals, highly-educated specially-trained doctors and sophisticated delivery methods, it’s an absolute embarrassment that the citizens in our country are forced to forego treatment due to lack of adequate health insurance coverage. In a civilized society that cares about its people, it is prudent and humane to provide, at least, a minimal level of healthcare to all its citizenry, regardless of circumstances.

Our individual health should not be dictated and determined by an employer, who, in these times, we are fortunate to have. Allowing employers, whose purpose is to earn profits off the life energy we give them in exchange for a paycheck, is placing our lives in the hands of an entity whose motives are less than pure. It makes no sense to have a soul-less entity, like a corporation, dictate the terms of an individual’s health. Isn’t that something the individual should have control over?

I have never understood why American citizens do not have private healthcare accounts regulated by the government. Most people do not work for one single employer over the course of their lives and most do not have continuous employment. Instead we have gaps, fits and starts, that cause us to have continuously uncertain healthcare coverage. Why not have individual healthcare insurance accounts to which we over-contribute during periods of employment, to make up for those gaps, fits and starts, providing continuous coverage? And why not allow for negative healthcare insurance account balances, that we fill back up again when we return to work? Why not back these accounts by the federal government up to a particular dollar amount, just as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) does for our bank accounts?

Employers can contribute to the individual healthcare accounts, making it a discretionary benefit to employees. We could establish an employer minimum contribution to the individual accounts, depending upon the size of the company or degree of health risk that the job imposes. A percentage could be contributed to run and fund a Federal Healthcare Insurance Corporation (FHIC) that would regulate the individual healthcare insurance accounts and the insurance providers.

This would allow citizens to seamlessly go from one employment status to another without interruption to their healthcare coverage. It would also allow individuals to start their own businesses, re-train, go back to school, have babies, take care of ailing parents, without interruption or worry over their healthcare coverage. Because the healthcare accounts would be individually owned and controlled, we could select our own healthcare insurance providers, healthcare plans and the like. Surely I am not the only person who has thought of this, given the great political minds that liken our planet. Now this would be real healthcare insurance reform!

The FHIC could then oversee and regulate healthcare insurance companies, just as the FDIC does banks. The FDIC, by the way, does not use any tax monies because banks must pay the FDIC for providing them with depositor insurance. Why not do the same with a FHIC? Healthcare insurance companies would have to contribute to the FHIC for the privilege of being in the health insurance business and reaping the rewards of dipping into all those individual healthcare insurance accounts. The first order of business for the FHIC ought to be to disallow ALL pre-existing condition clauses. This, to me, seems like a good, sound, solution-oriented, ethical business structure, along with a dose of societal compassion.

Instead, it appears that the Obama administration and congress will, at best, throw together a few band aid remedies and call it “healthcare reform” that will most likely result in higher taxes, more administrative mumbo-jumbo, with only a dash of improvement. I believe President Obama’s intentions are of the highest, but there are so many self-interested power brokers involved in the healthcare system, that his hands are tied. Again, I give him kudos for the attempt, but I won’t hold my breath, especially since, I have no healthcare coverage that would allow me to be revived.
Associated Links

Obama Healthcare Plan: Cost and Coverage

Ted Kennedy Speaks on Healthcare Reform