What. . . the. . . fuck?
The Baucus Bill is almost laughable in what it proposes. Essentially, it forces American's to buy health insurance from private companies, with no guarantees that costs will be controlled. It has some suggestions in it for setting up non-profit health care "co-ops" to keep prices competitive. But what if these co-ops fail? Will I be hit with a $1,700 a year fine for not being able to afford an $800 a month policy? Under the Baucus Bill I will. It amazes me that after all the talk we've heard over the years on health care reform from the Democrats, that they would actually push through a bill that benefits HMO's more than it does the American people.
There's also talk in this bill of providing subsidies to people in lower income brackets to help them purchase insurance. Let me tell you right now, here in New York, we already have these subsidies. And they do NOT make health coverage any more affordable unless you are in the LOWEST income bracket. For example, here in New York we have two subsidies health care plans. Both offer access to a number of private insurance companies. Family Health Plus is for individuals living below the poverty line. Basically, as a single adult, if your income level is below $200 a week, you can get free coverage from a number of providers. Then there is Healthy New York. To be elegible for Healthy New York, you can earn up to about $550 a week. Then, you have a number of plan options, ranging from $320 a month for full coverage with a prescription drug plan, to $218 a month for a high deductible plan with no drug options.
Now, if you're at the upper end of that spectrum, making $550 a week, you might actually be able to afford one of those subsidized plans. I mean, so long as you aren't paying rent. However, if you're making less than $550 and more than $200 (and this is all pre-tax income btw.) you're pretty much shit out of luck. The idea that an individual can afford to spend up to 25% or more of their income on health insurance is completely ludicrous. And if you're making more than $600 a week, you can pretty much bet you're going to have to pay somewhere in the range of $800 a month and up for an unsubsidized plan. And my bet is that when the details of the Baucus Plan currently before congress are finalized, we'll probably see figures very similar to these as subsidies for low-income individuals.
At the end of the day, the government can spend as much time arguing and drafting resolutions for insurance reform and federal subsidies, and it's not going to change a damn thing. Health Care reform needs to start and end with lowering the cost of care. And there are only two things that need to be fixed in order to significantly lower the cost of care:
1. Malpractice Law Suits: High malpractice coverage is the number one thing that has raised the cost of a visit to the doctors office to obscene levels. Instead of letting the courts and lawyer handle issues of malpractice, a government review board made up of physicians needs to be set up. A nationwide malpractice insurance policy run not for profit, by the federal government must be instituted. And lastly, the government review board will need to make a standardized, reasonable rate of payment for all malpractice claims. Basically, anything that can go wrong needs to have a number attached to it, and as long as the claim is valid, it will be paid out. No more frivolous law suits, and no more wasting court resources on malpractice suits.
2. Prescription Drugs: This is an industry that needs to be HEAVILY regulated. The prescription drug business in this country essentially creates it's own market. Why the hell are prescription drug companies advertising on TV? Shouldn't your doctor be the one telling you that you need to take Avodart? We need to change how the drug companies do business, which includes eliminating advertising, stopping drug reps from spending insane amounts of money to schmooze doctors. I know people who work in doctor's offices, and every day of the week, their lunches are catered by a different drug rep, in an effort to get the doctors to push their product. As patients, we should all be outraged by these practices.
More importantly though, it's about time we started curing stuff again. I propose a change in patent law for medications. Essentially, if you create a cure for a disease, you will receive a 50 year patent on it. However, treatments and medications, will only receive a one year patent, after which other companies will be able to produce the medication generically. Basically, you create a vaccine for AIDS, you can sell that at a premium for 50 years. However, if you create some little pill that someone has to take to keep their HIV under control, you're not going to get to keep making large amounts of money on that forever. The idea is to shift the focus of research and development away from creating expensive treatment programs that must be maintained.
Anyway, that's it for my rant today. Sorry this post wasn't as entertaining as the last one, but there was a lot of info to get out.
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