Health Care/Insurance Reform

How do we have "The Best Health Care System in the World", but aren't able to treat around 40 million Americans? Is the problem our technology and medical training? No, people from all over the world travel to the United States to receive groundbreaking treatments and life changing surgeries. The United States is consistently at the forefront of medical advancement.  We spend about 17% of our GDP on health care yet, how is it that our preventable death rates are the highest of all developed nations? The simple problem lies in the lack of access to health care. To find the answer, we must turn to the insurance companies that essentially run health care in the United States. Insurance companies can pick and choose who they want to grant access to health insurance. They deny insurance claims  simply because they can. When they have to pay someone back from getting a surgery that saved his/her life, they refer to it as a loss. In no other developed nation is access to health care even an issue. Germany and France spend far less that the US does on the health care system, yet are able to provide access to all citizens, employed and unemployed. Citizens in foreign countries never have to face the brunt of any medical bill. In the US however, people would rather have their child's cough persist for 2 months than visit their pediatrician for fear of declaring bankruptcy due to excessive medical costs. The new Health Care Reform of 2010, or Obamacare plan, expands the access to health care by limiting the requirements for health insurance (which is fantastic!) and forbids private insurance companies to deny an insurance applicant based on preexisting conditions.

No matter what the proposed solution to our health care/insurance reform, there will always be unhappy campers. People will always disagree.  My solution to the health care crisis in our country is to somewhat model our system after those of Germany and Japan. 

Like US citizens, Japanese citizens buy into private insurance plans, with their employers splitting the premium. Yet, when a Japanese individual loses his./her job, they are still covered under insurance through a government fund. In America, we cut health insurance once an someone loses their job. Isn't that a little cruel? We are essentially kicking someone when they are down and need help the most. Now you may be asking, "Where are you going to get the money for this fund without raising taxes?" And my answer to you would be to implement a law that requires all citizens to buy into some sort of health insurance fund. Of course, you would need government regulation of the prices of the insurance plans presented by the private insurance companies in order to keep insurance plans affordable to everyone. 

The next step would be to target the providers of medical care (physicians and hospitals). Physicians in other countries make far less than their counterparts in the US, but do not have to pay a single cent for their medical school training. If and only if we can somehow lower tuition for all medical schools, paying physicians less would be justified. Furthermore, physicians in other countries do not fear being sued. In America, physicians will order unnecessary tests to cover all the bases just in case they get sued. All this money spent on expensive tests and procedures greatly increases our national spending and debt. 

I feel that with these guidelines will drastically reduce the cost of medical care in America and at the same time, increase access to health care. Health care is a right, not a privilege. People should not have to worry about being ruined financially when they are sick.