Health Insurance Reality

Matt is my nephew and he has always understood health insurance better than most people. One day I asked him to write an article about it, which he did. He has his own insightful slant on the matter, especially as it pertains to cost, so here it is.

Understanding Health Care by Matt Rhode

A lot has been made lately in the news and politics of our seemingly “broken” healh care system. My opinion: IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE FIXED.

Many people make the common mistake of confusing health care with health insurance. Everyone has access to healthcare, there are no shortages of doctors, hospitals, clinics, or urgent-care centers. Some folks don’t have health insurance, which is a contract between you and a company detailing who will pay for what and in what amounts should you get sick or injured.

What’s the scope of that problem? Those who work for a large company or a government entity have a health insurance plan. Seniors have Medicare, a form of insurance. Workers injured on the job have workman’s compensation. Veterans are covered by the VA. People injured in vehicles or at someone’s house or place of business have auto or homeowner’s coverage. Illegal aliens have emergency rooms, as do all the poor and indigent and those without social security numbers.
Who’s left? CNN did a study that suggested 86.7 million went without health insurance in the last two years, 75% of whom did so for more than 6 months. That figures to 65 million.

What can they do? I looked online and in 5 minutes I found a health insurance policy that would be right for me at a cost of $95 per month with United HealthCare. I call that affordable. So you say it’s not? Then how about we just pick up the tab for those people? 65 million times $100 is 6.5 billion, that’s 0.05% of Gross Domestic Product.

Ok, ok. So you just can’t stand it, you have to CHANGE something right? Well here are my suggestions:

1) Allow people to buy insurance across state-lines, increasing competition and
reducing cost.
2) Allow people to opt-out of coverage they don’t need. Single males don’t need
maternity coverage or pre-natal care, sane folks don’t need mental health
coverage, and tea-totallers won’t need drug rehab.
3) Require doctors/HMO’s/urgent care centers/ER’s to post their prices PRE-
insurance.
4) Outlaw withholdings of health care premiums. People should write a check
for their premiums, then they’ll realize the true cost of healthcare.

Do you have any ideas that would reduce cost, increase access, and not steal money from the wealthy to give to the poor? Or do you want the U.S. to play Robin Hood when it comes to healthcare?