EVERYONE AGREES---WE DO NEED HEALTH CARE REFORM, BUT WHAT KIND AND AT WHAT COST?

Recently I wrote re: OBAMACARE and all of the problems and pitfalls we would be facing if it did indeed pass as written. Then a very dear friend of mine and I debated the issue during a recent phone call.
For ten years he has carried his own private health care insurance. In the past four years his premiums have risen from $700/mo to $1400/mo. I’m sure this is due to rising medical costs and the fact he may be getting older. My friend is a small business owner, a business he has spent years building. However, just the same as many small business owners he is an employer of only two- his wife and himself. In order to afford continuing his health care coverage he found himself having to take out a group policy for two. His premiums are half of what they were but his deductibles are much higher. He is on a 70/30 plan where he pays the first 30% and then insurance picks up the remaining 70%. This is the same plan he has been on, however his deductible has risen from $250 to $2500. He is still able to keep his same doctor, something that is very important to him.
My friend is aware that America has the best healthcare in the world. In fact people come here from all over the world to take advantage of the excellence we here in the USA enjoy. But his complaint is that the system we use to implement that care is BROKEN.
One very obvious flaw for many people who have paid insurance premiums all of their lives is that in the event of a catastrophic illness such as stroke, heart attack, cancer, etc., the insurance company promptly cancels their policy. Now they have a “pre-existing condition” and can not get another insurance company to cover them. They find themselves bankrupt and destitute. Everything they worked for in their life is gone
This is where change needs to come and it should fall on the shoulders of the insurance company, not the American people. Because of our private enterprise system the insurance companies are entitled to make a profit just as any other business is. They collect premiums and make their profit from the interest off of those dividends. When someone is in need of medical services and, in turn submits a claim, the insurance company pays those claims out of their profits. However, there needs to be some sort of law enacted to protect the insured person from being canceled when times are rough. The insurance company should not be able to pull the rug out from under them when they need it the most, just as an employee who has worked for 30 years and suddenly finds themselves without a job needs to be able to continue their coverage during difficult times. We need to have the freedom to purchase insurance across the interstates. This would encourage competition and, in turn, keep costs down
OBAMACARE goes too far! We can not afford to pay the bill for health care for everyone who “happens” to be in the USA! When our ancestors emigrated from Europe no one gave them “free” health care. It may have meant even trading services, but they were still making an effort to compensate the doctor. There was no such thing as the government paying for everything people wanted. There were no entitlement programs.
Putting it into perspective- a single payer system such as Canada, England, or Sweden have is no picnic either. I speak from personal experience! In 1925 my grandmother came from Canada, across the border, to Buffalo, New York to give birth to my father. It was going to be a difficult delivery and even in those days the U.S. had the best care in the world, therefore his chances for survival would be best if he was born here instead of in Canada. Because his mother was Canadian, Daddy had dual citizenship until age 21. When he was 15 daddy lied about his age and entered the Royal Canadian Air Force and served in WWII. At age 21 he had to choose between his Canadian and his U.S. citizenship. He chose to move into the U.S., give up Canada, and he joined the United States Marine Corps. He served in Special Ops during the Korean War. Daddy never took his American citizenship for granted. To me he was a great American hero.
In1962, when I was 7 years old, daddy became homesick. So we moved to Canada. I even attended school there briefly. My youngest brother was 3 at the time and critically ill with severe asthma. The doctors in Canada did not know how to treat him. They informed my parents they should just take him home to die. My family promptly returned to the U.S. San Diego to be exact. Where the doctors not only saved my brother’s life, but at this date he is 50 years old and a contributing member of society who pays taxes!
I also had a conversation with my aunt, who still lives in Canada, that same night as I did with my friend who engaged me in the debate on health care reform in the first place. My aunt had just returned from seeing her doctor after a 3 month wait where the doc had asked how she was doing. Her answer- I’m depressed, despondent, and I don’t want to live, but I am afraid to die! Her doctor asked if this had anything to do with her being placed in a nursing home. Her reply was a resounding “YES!” It just so happened that the doctor had just spent 2 months in a hospital in Canada with double pneumonia. He turned to my aunt and said, “Margaret, if you don’t think you need to go in a home, and your family doesn’t think you need to go to a home, than I don’t think you should go either. So I won’t be signing these admittance papers for you to go against your will!” Seems that during his 2 month stay in the hospital he had a taste of his own medicine?”