Stratifying Health Care

The United States Health Care issue is all the news again. People are divided. Some citizens want socialized health care, while others want to minimize government presence in daily life. The focus is on health insurance, not lowering the cost of health care; therefore, it is important to know how insurance is implemented.

Several people contribute to a common fund to reduce risk. Insurance companies use statistical information to identify how much someone contributes. They must diversify healthy and unhealthy people. While everyone pays around $100 month, someone will need to collect on the insurance. After suffering major injury or surgery insurance companies must pay thousands of dollars to the hospital. If everyone became seriously ill at the same time, they would go bankrupt, because costs exceed available money in the common fund.

It is like the emergency fund they had at work. People contributed $2 a paycheck. Most people contributed because they could be the person in trouble and did not want to look selfish if they suffered a hardship. Hardly anyone used the fund so when an employee experienced a problem like a car accident or sudden illness not covered by worker compensation the fund got them back on their feet and back to work.

The government has subsidized insurance companies for several years. They may have believed increasing supply would lower the cost. However, insurance companies need a large pool of people to offset risk. Medical expenses are high. A considerable amount of people have to contribute to the fund to cover medical costs; therefore, insurance companies cannot offer lower rates.

Insurance is important because it protects hospitals. There are documented incidences of hospitals going bankrupt because several patients refusing to pay their bill. The Hippocratic Oath prevents hospitals from turning away anyone needing medical attention.

Placing responsibility on individuals is a potential method to avoid this problem. If everyone had a basic amount of insurance through the government delinquent accounts would not affect hospitals as much. The question is if the government is responsible for paying these debts.

The Federal Housing Insurance Company protects mortgages companies default loans. Hospitals could also have a similar program protecting them from credit write-offs; instead, their method of collecting on debt has been disabled. People think medical bills should not be on credit reports, because it might affect service. This is not true. They will still receive medical attention, but they will have to pay medical bills if they want auto and home loans. Allowing hospitals to collect on debts like any other creditor, allows hospitals to participate in collection actions, including; reporting default payments, official claims to money owed, the write-off process and declare losses to the government for tax relief.

A universal health care system sounds interesting. Individuals believe they are paying less; however, they pay more taxes. Therefore, the plan should be comprehensive and benefit everyone in a positive way without completing against existing health insurance companies. Insurance companies need a lot of customers.

Potential methods of preventing direct competition is through qualifying circumstances. A person qualifies when needing hospitalization or they lose their job and do not have health insurance. If a person requires expensive medicine, the government pays a limited portion of expenses regardless of insurance or income. They may also apply for additional assistance if premiums are excessive.

In both incidences, the person does not apply they qualify for assistance when they become a high risk individual that insurance companies avoid. This assistance has to be limited per individual. Socialized medicine in other countries is causing medical costs to go up in the United States. Offering lower rates to them is offset by charging United States citizens more for medications and equipment. Capping the amount government will pay could abridge rising health care costs, because we will be unable to pay everybody else's bill.

Individual insurance is important. A friend suffered a heart attack after losing their job. One of four medications cost over $80. Without an income, insurance or way of paying the hospital knew what to do; otherwise, they would have died. They qualified him for state insurance and additional charitable assistance. Now they pay $8 for all four pills.

Sometimes people need an office visit. It could be a cold or the Swine Flue. Prescription counters at local grocery store are the cheapest office visit. They ask a few questions and recommend an over-the-counter drug. I've used this method. It is great. They also know if a person should see a doctor. If required emergency health insurance covers office visits.

Everyone knows preventative care is the most important part of avoiding hospitalization; therefore, offering a free physical every two years and education is important. Brochures are relatively inexpensive and can be available in all medical institutions. They explain how germs spread, available health care options, importance of cleanliness and exercise. Discount stores charge a dollar on most cleaning supplies. Higher standards in harvesting food would prevent diseases like mad cow disease. Educating people on subjects like smoking is also imperative. This should be based on fair, honest and scientific information. A study regarding smoking in England revealed risk associated to smoking is only apparent when a person smokes more than three packs a day. Proper ventilation prevents risk associated to second hand smoke.

These are all responsible measures addressing concerns regarding health care. In addition, it is fair. It protects all people regardless of income; therefore, usable by all taxpayers. This plan may benefit everyone one day. It is a low cost solution that does not subdue regular health insurance, which may offer better benefits and does not require qualifying circumstances or advance complications.

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