Sunday, August 9, 2009

Two Views on Healthcare

Senator Herb Kohl plays it close-to-the-vest. But he appears to support a government-run system with this statement:

As for the rumors out there about how health care will be drastically changed for the worse, you can rest assured: Health care reform will not limit choices, take away treatment options, ration care, eliminate private insurance, or tell you how or when to die. These things are not going to happen.

The word he needs to add is "now". "These things are not going to happen now". The problem with government-run anything is that it is government-run. There is no alternative to the government system. No competition, no recourse. No ability to pay out-of-pocket when the system says, "no".

John Rauser see things differently. I particularly like his "Annual Risk Adjustments". It appears much like the Workers' Compensation system, where employers are given an adjustment based on their previous 3 years of compensation experience.

I'm also very much in favor of Reform No. 3, as I have advocated in previous postings. It only makes sense to know what we are paying for.

I'm not wild about mandated coverage (Reform No. 5). Let people choose, but make them accountable for that choice. Choose to not take your employers healthcare plan? Expect to pay the entire cost out-of-pocket. And don't whine about it. Choose to not offer healthcare to employees? Don't expect the best and brightest.

I recognize the need to reform healthcare. The best fix is the one that has the least government.

2 comments:

Dad29 said...

Kohl salted the article with that UN "health indicators" crap.

The UN survey has been discredited by responsible, actual, RESEARCHERS--among other things, the 'death rate' in the US is affected by auto-accidents, which are not a problem in Cuba.

And reporting standards vary, significantly; the infant mortality rate is seriously jiggered outside the US.

Rauser's plan, by the way, can be accomplished very easily WITHOUT ObamaCare; all it takes is a few changes in laws and regs, mostly at the State gummint level.

Beer, Bicycles and the VRWC said...

Completely in agreement with you regarding Rauser's plan.

No surprise regarding UN surveys. After all, they brought us the IPCC.