Posted by
William D. Dannenmaier on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 4:35:59 PM
My first question concerning the national health bill is, “Who will administer it?” If, as seems suggested it will be administered from offices in DC, does this mean a clerk in DC will decide what treatment I need and if I deserve it?
Second, where will the national records on health care be stored and what will they include? In addition to my medical history, will they have such items as my social security number, credit card numbers, health plans I pay for, age and other personal items? How will they be secured? No computer system yet devised, which includes top secret military information, has been found completely safe from hackers. Does this mean an ingenious individual or nation will have all information on all citizens?
How much will this bureaucracy cost?
Current estimates claim 45 million uninsured Americans, of whom 20 million earn more than 70 thousand dollars a year. My third question is how will these people be forced to purchase health insurance? Every state of which I am aware has a law requiring automotive accident insurance, but every state has uninsured drivers also. Twenty percent of the drivers in California are estimated to be uninsured. Will uninsured medical people be refused treatment at hospitals? Or jailed? If jailed, then they will receive free medical treatment.
One escape reported in Massachusetts which has, I believe, such a law, is to fine any person requiring medical treatment between 5 and 6 hundred dollars. My income is much less than 70 thousand and I pay approximately 900 dollars a month for myself and family. It would be much less expensive, and people in Massachusetts have found it so, to forget the insurance and pay the fine.
A second option, again I believe in Romney’s Massachusetts plan, is to require insurance companies to accept all applicants regardless of prior health condition. Again, the report I read said that many younger people aren’t bothering with health insurance until they realize they have a serious illness. Then they sign up. Following treatment, they drop their insurance. Again, being personal, I have paid for health insurance for more than fifty years, during most of which I never saw a doctor. I didn’t need insurance during most of those years. Under the Massachusetts plan, I wouldn’t have had to pay those tens of thousands of dollars over the years. When I finally realized I had a problem – a heart attack that I ignored - I could have signed up immediately and then dropped it when cured, which took about three months. Thus three months worth of premiums would have paid my 200 thousand dollar bill. Incidentally, but relevant, the report I read said this practice is driving the cost of insurance up for those who pay monthly.
Back to the third question, how will the government force people to buy insurance?
My fourth question is why are the estimated 17 millions illegal aliens to be covered and how? One article said plans are to reduce Medicaid payments. Thus I, and tens of thousands of other elderlies, will be restricted in receiving medical treatment while illegals receive full treatment. One of the penalties of being a citizen I suppose.
Now for others. I am willing to bet anyone a cup of coffee, even an expensive cup, that a review of college campuses would find at least ten million young adults in full attendance who are over-age to be on their family policies and unemployed – other than as students – so unable to buy insurance.
Fifth, at least one or two million people change jobs every year, taking them off of company insurance policies for a brief period of time.
Now let us add the numbers. Twenty million making over 70 thousand a year, 17 million illegals, 10 million students, 1 million changing jobs. Whoops! That is 48 million uninsured and I’ve forgotten to include the insane incarcerated in mental hospitals and the mentally ill considered harmless to society who wander the streets. Obama is underestimating the number of uninsured.