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by Ted Tally

With President Obama’s dream of a single-payer healthcare system going down in flames, it is now time for our elected leaders to look at the system again, with a goal of providing a better overall healthcare system for all.  While those of us on the right continue to attend town hall meetings to let our voices be heard (and they have been) to kill socialized medicine, that does not discount the very fact that some reform is necessary.  However, responsible reform is what is needed, not the pie-in-the-sky plan sponsored by the nation’s liberal leaders. 

In a nation such as ours, no one should be without quality health care, but there are ways to achieve this through consensus, rather than by ramming down our throats a Washington, D.C.-centered plan.   Rather than focusing on a full government takeover, our election leaders should take the time to figure what works and what doesn’t and concentrate on the latter, without destroying the former. 

Most Americans are very happy with their current health care plan, with most getting their coverage through a combination of employer-sponsored insurance with employee co-pays and co-shares thrown in to absorb some of the costs.  The overall employee costs can be deducted for tax purposes, although for most Americans, the amount of money deductable is far smaller than the standard tax deduction.    American’s biggest complaint seems to be the shell game involved with how much is covered and at what cost, which is confusing to figure out at best.    For employers, the biggest headache is naturally the above-inflation rate hikes that come each year, which drain an employer’s ability to invest in their company, hand out deserving raises to employees, and their inability in some cases, of hiring new employees.  

For those Americans without health insurance coverage, the situation is far different depending on the circumstance.  Despite the fact that the White House and its surrogates continue to throw out the “40 million Americans are without healthcare” number, the real number is actually far less, when one looks at the specifics.  First, nearly ten million of those individuals are in fact, not Americans, but undocumented workers that live in this country without citizenship but with the social benefits of living here.   Short of throwing these individuals out of this country as part of an overall immigration overhaul, these individuals should be required to absorb the costs of the services in which they are given every time they head to the emergency room for minor and major healthcare issues.

Another twenty million Americans by some estimates, have the opportunity to purchase or join an employer-sponsored plan, but choose not to.  Most of these individuals are new to the workforce, do not have families or see no need to spend dollars on a health care card that they  feel they will never use.  Of these, some are between jobs and rather than use the COPRA plan (which is very expensive), they buy nothing.  Of course, accidents happen and when they do, just like with the illegals, we take on the costs of their emergency care. 

Finally, we are left with nearly ten million Americans that want healthcare, but either have no access to it or cannot afford the costs.  These Americans work, but simply cannot find a way of spending any of their resources on a healthcare package, or thanks to preexisting conditions, cannot find a plan that will take them.

The pattern here is simple:  there are a lot of Americans in this country that cannot use preventive care, but often times swamp our emergency room resources when necessary, which causes all Americans to absorb these costs and thereafter pay higher premiums and co-pays. 

Rather than providing government-sponsored healthcare, which would completely destroy the healthcare system that most Americans are happy with, Congress and the President should initiate a two-part plan to assist those Americans that are struggling.

 First, a new tax system should be put into place that would mean true tax advantages to those that have healthcare coverage.  In other words, give people a tax advantage to purchasing health care, making the decision to not purchase coverage unworkable.    Through a combination of health savings accounts, tax benefits to the purchasing of health care and perhaps the end of “free” emergency room care for those without healthcare, costs could come down and the number of uninsured would drop.    Without the “free” care, the undocumented would also have to purchase a plan as well.

Also, allow insurance companies to compete for business nationally, rather than be regional-based.  By cutting down on the many state requirements that make national competition unworkable, competition will thrive and with competition comes lower costs.   By eliminating the many state requirements, limits imposed by preexisting conditions would also lessen, which would help many Americans.

In this writer’s opinion, there is nothing wrong with a government-mandate that all Americans have healthcare coverage.  However, there are ways that we can achieve this that doesn’t lessen competition and does indeed lower costs.   Of course, whether our elected leaders recognize this, is a different story.   Most likely, responsible action can only be achieve though the election of new representatives in Washington, D.C.

Ted Tally is a writer living in Las Vegas. He should not be confused with the Academy-Award winning screen-writer by the same name.