Donald K. Allen for President

Health Care

The major party candidates are promoting health care plans that involve finding a way to insure every American, young and old, poor and wealthy, against medical care debt.  Why doesn’t every American have that already?  Most do, who can afford to pay the ever-increasing monthly premiums for health care coverage.  Many cannot scrape enough together to obtain even the most basic health care protection.  So who will pay for them?  Where will those billions come from?

Growing up, my widowed mother did not have health care insurance for herself or for her two young boys.  It was hard enough making ends meet on Social Security and whatever she could earn through meager jobs.  Getting the mortgage payment together was always a challenge each month.  Slivers, colds, cuts, and anything short of pneumonia was treated at home with traditional remedies, rest, and lots of fluids.  It nearly always did the job.  I would annually get a bout of tonsillitis.  I still have my tonsils.  We really didn’t need complete health insurance coverage.  We needed catastrophic medical coverage.  Today, however, many people rush themselves or their children to the doctor’s office for a runny nose that lasts more than two days.

An upper respiratory virus runs its course, which often takes anywhere from five to ten days.  The doctor can’t make it go away any faster than good, common sense home nursing care delivered by Mom.  Why waste the doctor’s time?  The insurance company will pay him or her for the visit, and premiums will tick up a nano amount.  You see, the insurance company doesn’t really pay for it.  You do.

We’ve also become a nation of blame.  Something goes wrong, and you need to find someone who will pay for it – big time.  No room for error, no allowance for the vagaries of Nature.  ANYTHING wrong with your newborn baby and there are a dozen attorneys offering to sue the OB-GYN on your behalf.  That’s why the number of OB-GYNs is steadily declining.  They can’t afford the insurance premiums.  Should the government find a way to help them pay for insurance, too?

Instead of cobbling up a health insurance program that will require higher taxes to pay for it, why not work at the causes of high insurance premiums?  The legal profession knows that suing large corporations and insurance companies is usually an easy win through settlement.  The defendants weigh the difference between legal defense in court and settlement outside of court, and the latter almost always is more affordable.  Everyone’s insurance premiums tick up another nano amount.

Making a “loser pays” policy the law of the land will help by eliminating frivolous lawsuits everywhere.  Today, with even the slightest chance of winning, legal teams go for the gold, knowing the odds of a settlement are vastly in their favor.  With loser pays, they need an airtight case because if they lose, their client pays the legal fees of BOTH sides.  Which means they might not get paid at all.  National tort reform that would cap personal injury cases and “pain and suffering” add-ons would also be a factor for lowering all insurance costs, including health insurance.  The Insurance Research Council calculated that insurance fraud adds about $250 a year to a typical household's home and auto insurance premiums.  In plain talk, those are phony claims.

I believe teaching a more involved basic HOME health care and first aid in our school system would relieve the workload on our medical care system overall, thereby reducing the costs of healthcare for everyone.  This would include use of over-the-counter medicines properly, holistic remedies, traditional home health care, and when to make the decision to seek professional care.  This would also include the Red Cross’ CPR course certification for all students.

Relieving the pressure on health insurance companies would make basic health care policies more affordable for everyone, without mandating coverage and increasing taxes.  Coupled with the Fair Tax Bill that would increase take-home pay 20 to 30 percent, health insurance would be more accessible to everyone.  Medicaid, Medicare, and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) would continue to serve other eligible Americans.