One thing I will say as one who is in graduate school to become a health care professional & works in the health care sector, we need reform. The current system is a mess. We will need some reforms that some may not agree with just because the current system is terrible. Getting rid of pre-existing condition clauses would be one of those reforms. Undoubtedly they will have to pay higher premiums, but some form of insurance is better than none. I feel it to be immoral, given our current employer-based system combined with this economic crisis, to deny people health care because they lost their jobs & came down with an illness. The government created both of these problems through failed policy. We need to move towards consumer-based health care insurance (and also insurance that behaves like actual insurance, not a benefits package).
Also, no one is dying because they dont have health care because we have laws that treat everyone who comes to the ER. Also, a government-run program will not be any different (in terms of denying care) from the insurance companies. Both ration & both have "death panels." It is because they act as benefits packages, they simply cannot provide for every bit of health care. Insurance is a hedge against a risk. Everyone should have high-deductible insurance policies (which cover everything once the deductible is met) combined with tax-free Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). This will give more freedom to patients to make health care decisions with their doctors, it will create price transparency, it will lower the costs of health care procedures & will improve the overall quality of care (while keeping intact what is already great about our health care system).
Submitted by Ryan Printy (not verified) on September 6, 2009.
One thing I will say as one who is in graduate school to become a health care professional & works in the health care sector, we need reform. The current system is a mess. We will need some reforms that some may not agree with just because the current system is terrible. Getting rid of pre-existing condition clauses would be one of those reforms. Undoubtedly they will have to pay higher premiums, but some form of insurance is better than none. I feel it to be immoral, given our current employer-based system combined with this economic crisis, to deny people health care because they lost their jobs & came down with an illness. The government created both of these problems through failed policy. We need to move towards consumer-based health care insurance (and also insurance that behaves like actual insurance, not a benefits package).
Also, no one is dying because they dont have health care because we have laws that treat everyone who comes to the ER. Also, a government-run program will not be any different (in terms of denying care) from the insurance companies. Both ration & both have "death panels." It is because they act as benefits packages, they simply cannot provide for every bit of health care. Insurance is a hedge against a risk. Everyone should have high-deductible insurance policies (which cover everything once the deductible is met) combined with tax-free Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). This will give more freedom to patients to make health care decisions with their doctors, it will create price transparency, it will lower the costs of health care procedures & will improve the overall quality of care (while keeping intact what is already great about our health care system).