You can have all the money, fame and power in the world, but you have nothing if you don’t have good health. Where better spend our resources than on our health and medical research? Yes, there is nothing more important than our health. We should give quality affordable health care for all but single payer socialized medicine is not the answer, it would be a disaster.
Many politicians including our incumbent Congressman Ted Lieu are touting “Medicare for All” which is a euphemism for single payer socialized medicine. They try to make it sounds good by telling us we all get free health care. They often say, “ Look at the Canadian system”. What they don’t tell you is single payer socialized medicine means we lose choice and quality. Doctors are assigned to you. No you can’t choose your doctor and you can’t even get a second opinion. Elective surgery, forget about it, you can wait for years. There is no private practice option with Medicare for All in Canada and just total government control. The Government can tell us our Grandmother is too old and we are not going to fix her hip fracture. I have visited many Canadian clinics and witnessed patients requiring eye surgery but delayed for years as they are on huge waiting lists. Importantly, Medicare for all will cost more than $30 trillion over 10 years breaking the bank and giving the next generation insurmountable Government debt.
But YES, we can do both have affordable private medical system with choice and have government help provide care for all. We actually have this great system now, but yes it needs to be improved.
First off we need to have a competitive market for the insurance companies. Because of the McCarran Ferguson Act insurance companies are exempt of anti-trust laws. Insurance companies can and do collude and price fix driving our deductible and premiums sky high. Repeal the McCarran Ferguson Act and private medical insurance will be affordable. Pre-existing conditions must be covered. No one should be turned away when presenting with an emergency to an emergency room. Allow for catastrophic policies that have low premiums.
Second let’s improve and expand our County and City clinics and hospitals to insure care for all. I worked for over 10 years at Los Angeles County Hospital and we cared for all regardless of ability to pay. People were billed very little based on their income and were never billed into poverty. We gave excellent care and received the most difficult cases in the region. Let’s expand and improve our County Health Care System including clinics. We can also expand Medicaid called Medical in California. Let’s include the working poor and patients with catastrophic illness so no one goes bankrupt because of illness.
Yes, we really can have quality affordable health care for all with the freedom of choice!