A
viable option for greatly improving our health care system
might simply be an expansion of Medicare to cover more people.
I don’t see the need to invent a whole new system of health
care delivery. It might not be practical to cover all
citizens at once but various age groups could be folded into
the plan over time until everyone is brought on board.
For
example, we might start by including in year one all children
under the age of 10. The following year, all children
from ages 10 – 18. After that, ages 19-25 and 60 to 65
, etc. until everyone is included. The reason that it
might not be practical for all people to be covered at one
time is that the health care delivery systems might not be
able to handle forty million new patients all at once… there
might not be enough doctors to do a credible job and there
might be other shortages as well. It will take time to
ramp up the system. In any event, the best approach will
be one that can succeed and offer inspiration for continued
success and refinement… it should be simple enough to have a
chance to work and be appreciated by those who participate.
What happens to those employed in the insurance industry now
serving that sector? Under my suggestion, Medicare will
have to hire more people and so will hospitals and other
health care providers. Some can find work there.
As for the rest, it doesn’t make sense to keep people
employed doing work that no longer serves a useful purpose.
There’s plenty of work that we need done to make our country
a better place. It’s time that we put our
resources to work on projects that make people better off
rather than rip them off.
We could, for example, shrink the military. There is
enough graft, waste, and corruption being spent on programs we
don’t need, to pay for the best health care system in the
world, the best transportation system, and a viable energy
strategy. There’s plenty of work to be done. The
only obstacle to progress are the people we’ve elected to
represent us and the systems and procedures we use to find out
who we should elect.
My
simple approach would not require a total revamping of our
health care system. The
infrastructure is already in place that would allow us to
incrementally migrate to a better way of doing things.
If
we can find the money to pump $14 Trillion into the economy in
order to bail out Wall Street, the insurance industry, and a
lot of liars and cheats who
work in those industries, we can find whatever funding is needed
to provide the essential services we need as human beings.
Other
countries have already demonstrated that all citizens can have
a better health care than we have and have it for less money
per person than we now spend not to insure everyone.
Other countries spend less, have better infant mortality rates
and longer life expectancies. My simple suggestion, if
properly implemented, could save money in the long run and
eventually improve life in America for all citizens.
____________