Political Equinox

Yes, you read that right. America already has a system in which we pay for the healthcare of others that is deeply embedded into our economic system. We pay for it every single day without even realizing that we are covering the healthcare costs of our fellow Americans.

No, I am not talking about Medicare, Medicaid, or any other government sponsored healthcare plans. The universal healthcare I am talking about is employer-sponsored healthcare plans.

Letís take a trip back to our high school economics class and take a look at how businesses price their products. All companies hope to earn money through the sale of their product or service, so they deduct expenses from the cost of the product and then you get their profit. However, in order to cover those expenses they have to set the price high enough. And whatís healthcare? Revenue? Nope. Then by golly it must be an expense, and you know how we pay for higher expenses? Sell more products or raise our prices.

Whatís in a price?

Back in 2005, GM publicly stated that in order to cover the cost of their enormous healthcare cost to their employees they embed $1,500 in the price of every vehicle they sell. Now how many of you own a GM made vehicle? And how many of you know a GM employee? You paid for their healthcare, maybe not all of it, but a little bit. The question is not whether we want to pay for everyoneís healthcare, but rather, in what format do we want to pay for it?

Cutting out the middleman

So where can we find that perfect system that ensures every American has healthcare? I havenít got a clue, but Iím looking.

But Iíll give you this: We must get employers out of healthcare, implement Electronic Health Records in every office and hospital across the country, and the government cannot run the health system.

Iím intrigued by the fact that Barack Obama supports universal health care, but I donít support his plan. Heís got it wrong. His plan doesnít solve a thing, it simply sounds good to those who donít have health care.

Does it solve rising costs? No. Does it scale, so when the prices keep rising and we hit another $50 million that canít afford it, weíll have enough to cover the cost? No.

So what do we need?

Well, I havenít found the plan yet, but Iím searching. But in order to find the right plan weíve got to clearly state what we need.

1. The plan must remove employers from the healthcare equation completely. Our current system of employer provided plans hurts small business and in turn our economy. A small business with 4 employees has far too small of a pool to spread the risk around, we must find a system that spreads the risk amoung large numbers of people.
2. The plan must focus on an efficient electronic backbone that makes patient information portable from one doctor to another. We must provide doctors with a patients entire medical history instead of just what one doctor sends over. This will result in better treatment and better care.
3. We must require better health choices by our fellow Americans. I realize that our healthcare system is failing, but we have much more of a health problem than we ever will a healthcare problem. Obesity is becoming a huge problem in America, we must penalize those who make poor health choices because it isnít the job of those who make excellent choices to pay for your mistakes. Am I proposing a ìFat Taxî? Heck no, but lets say you need a machine to help you sleep because youíre overweight. The insurance company should pay for less and less of that machine each year if you do not make an effort to lose weight and eliminate the problem. If you want to be fat, thatís your choice, but donít tell me your disabled and canít work. Turn your life around and take some responsibility for your actions.
4. It must include everyone. And I donít mean that in a sense of giving out free healthcare. I mean that in the sense that Medicare, Medicare, Veterans Care, and the rest of America should be rolled into one plan that covers everything.

Meet those qualifications and Iíll consider your plan.

And finally lets dispel one huge myth. Great Britain and Canadaís healthcare is not better than ours. They donít live longer because they have better healthcare, they live longer because they make better health choices. They donít weight 350 pounds and complain they they are big-boned. Lose weight, exercise, eat better and by golly youíll live longer too.