There has been a lot of talk about health care in the news lately. The cost of medical care is just plain outrageous and we need to come up with new and aggressive ways to lowered the cost to make it affordable.
As a State of Wisconsin retiree, I know this first hand. I pay over $1,700 per month for my State provided family plan which is just Pam and I. This is about twice the average house or rent payment for our area.
I believe low cost medical care should be available to everyone. A lot of people are talking about ways to fund medical care for everyone. The problem is they are accepting the high cost of medical care and just looking for a way to get working people to pay for it.
What we really need to do is look into medical care to identify ways to reduce the cost of medical care. Some of the obvious ones are:
Profit vs. Non-profit health insurance. Many reports show that people with non-profit health insurance pay about 70% of their premium for health care and about 30% for administrative costs; however, profit based health insurance needs to maximize profits to give the highest return possible to their investors. This comes directly out of your pocket and can add an additional 50% or more to your premium. Yes, at a time when Wisconsin families are struggling to make ends meet, about a third of your health insurance premium is just going to make the rich richer. This will even be worse, if health insurance is made mandatory.
Prescription Medication. Recently I was listening to a stock market report. A major drug company posted such a huge quarterly profit that it effected the NYSE. After checking into this a little more I found out that this is not uncommon. There is a lot of room to lower costs in this area. Take a look into how much we are forced to pay for medication compared to how much the rest of the world pays for the very same medication.
Buildings. Have you noticed all the marble and elaborate architecture in medical buildings lately? Nothing more needs to be said on this topic.
I'd like to see a 75% reduction in Medical Care. My chiropractor charges $35 per visit and spends about 15 minutes giving me an adjustment. Why can't a medical doctor charge $35 for a 15 minute visit where they just check you over and write a prescription.
We need to get Major Medical Insurance down to about $200 per
month for the family plan. This way we
Also insurance companies should not be able to ask about or deny someone for preexisting medical conditions. These are the people that need insurance the most and should not be discrimination against for it. I have no problem with them charging more for things people can control like smoking, drinking alcohol or using illegal drugs, driving without wearing a seat belt or not wearing a helmet on a motorcycle or bicycle.
Also we need to detach health insurance from the employer. Currently if you have employer provided health care and you leave the company, you often loose your insurance. Also we don't require employers to provide auto or home insurance for their employees, why should they be "required" to provide health insurance. Whenever something is "required" it will ultimately cost you more. Its your life, your health, it should be your choice of the type of health insurance you get.
A person on Medicaid or Medicare should have all their medical problems and medications covered and not have to pay for supplemental coverage on their limited fixed income.