The Problem

The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) is a right-wing think tank. Below is a list of their principal issues as posted on the People For the American Way web site.

NCPA’s Principal Issues:

• A right wing think tank with programs devoted to privatization in the following issue areas: taxes, Social Security and Medicare, health care, criminal justice, environment, education, and welfare.
  
• NCPA describes its close working relationship with Congress, saying it “has managed to have more than a dozen studies released by members of congress – a rare event for a think tank – and frequently members of Congress appear at the NCPA's Capitol Hill briefings for congressional aides.”
  
• Right-wing foundations funding includes: Bradley, Scaife, Koch, Olin, Earhart, Castle Rock, and JM Foundations
  
• In the early 90s, NCPA created the Center for Tax Studies. NCPA’s website describes the inspiration for the Center: “Very few think tank studies are released by members of Congress.”

The NCPA is against legislation that imposes guidelines on private companies such as health insurance companies. Guaranteed issue and community rating are examples. I looked into other states such as Massachusetts that have guaranteed issue and community rating. The cost of health insurance isn’t a major issue in Massachusetts. That may be because they also have universal health insurance.

I’m not going to get any deeper into some of these issues such as guaranteed issue and community rating because they should be part of a universal health insurance program. I need to make a case for universal health insurance. I’m for universal health insurance not because it’s cheaper. It may be a little more costly for some. I’m for universal health insurance because it’s right.

Does anyone think Social Security was a bad idea? I doubt it. Does it have problems? Yes it does, but the problems are the result of legislators who allowed the fund to be raided. The number of baby boomers has also strained the system. It will be tough going for awhile and the baby boomer generation won’t be getting as much as they could have gotten if their numbers weren’t so great compared to the number of people contributing but Social Security is better than nothing.

You know, it would be a better system if everyone paid into it but you are aware that our members of congress don’t pay in and they don’t receive benefits. Years ago they devised their own retirement plan. What’s the problem? The problem is that there are too many people who believe they are above it all and there are too many who want to protect their station in life or wealth and have little regard for everyone else.

I would have loved to post some of the comments I saw on the Internet regarding universal health insurance, guaranteed issue, and community rating but both sides – right-wing and left-wing – have messages that contain so much hatred and biased information that I wouldn’t post it. They believe they’re right and everyone else’s ideas are [expletive deleted]. The middle of the road is being trampled. What we need are people who are interested in solving problems that effect our populace period. Too many people are without insurance and it’s a heavy burden for many. What should we do? That’s simple, find a solution.

As I said earlier, we need to populate our government with people who have strength-of-character. We need people who are willing to do the right thing for everyone not just for themselves, their constituents, or the special interest groups.

It’s time to start planning my walk or ride. Not sure if you saw that I may use a hand pedaled cycle for part of the trip.

Tomorrow we need to talk about universal health insurance in other countries. A friend has had experience with the systems in England and Canada and she isn’t impressed.

Why So Expensive?

Why is health insurance so expensive? There’s probably a 1,000 answers to that question. Here are some excerpts from articles I found on the Internet with some of the answers. The first is from the National Coalition on Health Care web site. The article is titled Health Insurance Cost.

“Experts agree that our health care system is riddled with inefficiencies, excessive administrative expenses, inflated prices, poor management, and inappropriate care, waste and fraud. These problems significantly increase the cost of medical care and health insurance for employers and workers and affect the security of families.”

The second titled How Wrong Laws Make Health Insurance Expensive was written by Conrad F. Meier and published in It's Your Health. The publication date is January 1, 2004

“Health Care News, a publication of The Heartland Institute in Chicago, featured a series of monthly case studies documenting how government regulations like community rating and guaranteed issue have destroyed the individual health insurance markets in eight states, creating a large uninsured population.

The evidence shows these laws are poorly crafted and fundamentally unworkable. Such poor public policy-making explains why, for example, health insurance premiums in New York State are three times higher than in California.”

The first article blames the health care system and the second article blames the lawmakers. I’ve never even heard about these government regulations. Could it be the lawyers themselves, especially those that sue doctors for malpractice for 10’s of millions of dollars? Maybe it’s the fault of judges who award plaintiffs such large sums. How about…we could keep this up forever. All of the reasons mentioned are legitimate.

One big reason for the high cost of health insurance not mentioned is the number of people who aren’t insured. That’s 16% of our population. If everyone had insurance, it would spread the cost across a larger group. There’s another reason that hasn’t been mentioned. The number of people who use the health care system, don’t have insurance, and don’t pay the bill. This raises the cost of health care for everyone which raises the cost of insurance.

Well what do you think? Does that about cover it? No it doesn’t. As I said, there’s a 1,000 reasons. Two reasons mentioned above are community rating and guaranteed issue. What are community rating and guaranteed issue? Next time we’ll take a look at these.