What happened to presidential candidate talks about healthcare reform?
With the seemingly unending hike in gas prices and the slowing economy, most media headlines have turned away from reporting any developments with the Obama and McCain camps’ healthcare reform proposals. On the road, emerging $5 signs at gas stations are an eye sore that occupy our minds and immediate concerns, shielding us from larger, bigger problems that would more profoundly shape the future of our country.
Such as, healthcare. The aging baby boomer population and future Medicare recipients, and increasing costs of healthcare delivery and individual expenditures hardly make our current healthcare system conducive to providing so-called “affordable healthcare.”
Unless insurance premiums drop and more employees can purchase healthcare, increasing accessibility and coverage will not happen, especially with the presidential plans’ focus on employer mandates and employee incentives. More people are losing jobs each day and cost of living is rising, pushing healthcare down the list on the uninsured’s to-buy lists. Expanding government welfare programs might be necessary in the short term to accommodate low income populations for now, but shifting costs to government to cover a greater population is not a sustainable strategy for our healthcare system.
I am not an economist by training, and someone can correct me on this; it is too risky to tantalize our economy now with any great government push for expanding healthcare programs and requiring employers to do more than trying to save jobs.
Americans think they want more healthcare—universal healthcare, even—and they know they want to pay less, meaning “don’t tax me more and don’t tell me what I can have.” With any other commodity, we accept it to be reasonable to pay more for something better and something more. Funny, isn’t it?
Providing healthcare to all Americans would require us to let go of some of our ideals that hold regulated pricing in the free market and increased taxes as infringements upon our freedom. Otherwise, even with a President for Change or simply President McCain, healthcare is likely to cruise through the free market yet again in the next four years and see no serious overhaul.
– Helen Tran
Did you see the Bunk study stating 2/3 of doctors in America want National Health Care. The doctors who did this study also conducted one in 2002 and found that the majority of doctors did not want national health care, the problem with this is that the 2 question surveys drastically differ in there 2nd question. I found this article, 60% of Physicians Surveyed Oppose Switching to a National Health Care Plan, It’s worth a read.
By Matt on July 13th, 2008