Mr. Moderate

Unable to find a decent “permanent” job, I took a one-year contract position with a major contract labor company. This at least allowed me to have access to a decent health care plan, even if I was required to pay the entire group rate premium out of my gross earnings. However, I’m approaching the end of my one-year contract term, and that means I’m approaching the end of my ability to (barely) afford health care. Now, its true that I will have the option of continuing my coverage under the COBRA law. But it is also true that my maximum monthly unemployment benefit will just about equal my health insurance premium under COBRA, so how am I supposed to afford food, shelter, and other basic needs?

Unfortunately, my family and I have chronic health care problems. As long as we are covered by health care insurance, our chronic problems are manageable. But if we ever become uncovered, we descend into medical Hell, and getting covered again becomes increasingly problematic as our chronic conditions are all “pre-existing conditions” for any new plan. This means that I do not dare allow my plan to lapse, as exclusions for “pre-existing conditions” are waived if you are simply moved from one plan to another. That being the case, though, how do I afford food, shelter, etc. while paying for health care?

The profit motive for health care in this country operates so as to gradually exclude those people who have chronic health care problems. One often-used tactic is that you are moved into “high risk” groups where you must pay unaffordable premiums that are spread only across other members of the “high risk” group who, like you, have extremely costly chronic illnesses. The insurance companies justify such tactics in various ways, but never address what is the real issue: every lawful citizen of the United States ought to be entitled to health care services at costs which are affordable to them. Every other “first-world” nation has national health care, and a lot of “second-world” and even a few “third world” nations do too.

The only reason why the United States lacks national health care is because the political class is under the thumb of the business owning class, and the business owning class includes all of the many businesses that make huge profits off of various segments of the health care industry. And those huge profits would be greatly reduced if a national health care plan of any sort ever happened to pass, so those many businesses and their business coalition partners all yell and scream at the politicians every time any of them tries to respond to the will of the people. The people are thus out-maneuvered by the money class and can’t get what they want (national health care) because neither political party dares to support it as they will never again have money to run for office if they do.

I am not just complaining here. I have a solution to offer too. It is based upon the practical reality that the Law of Supply and Demand does not function well when it comes to health care costs. So, some sort of government intervention is necessary to restore a properly-functioning free market. This is similar to the basic principles behind anti-monopoly laws. As I write on that page:

The motivating factor for laws of this type should be to encourage and enforce what is in the best interests of the public at large. Profits are not necessarily bad, but unfair profits gained from unfair dealing are a bad thing for the public at large. The main idea to remember is that the controlling issue is not what is best for the businesses, but what is best for the public.

That is exactly what I believe is the case for my proposal to provide health care for all US citizens.