Three types of people want universal healthcare. Military retirees who want what was promised them when they shed – or risked shedding blood for their country. Those who have chronic health conditions and cannot afford medical care. And those who cannot – or do not want to – pay for moderately-expensive but poor coverage insurance; or low premium insurance, with large co-pays and high deductibles; or the high-premium, low-deductible health insurance. With universal health care, residents and businesses that employ those residents, will pay much higher corporate, income and sales taxes to fund it. When working adults are fewer than the number receiving healthcare, there are obvious funding problems. In America, we are already tens of trillions of dollars in debt for past spending. And yet, when we have a crisis, we look to Government to solve it.
Bureaucrats who cannot solve a decades-old traffic snarl at a particular municipal intersection, are not able to fix a calamity that is Government-provided health care in America. Democrats blame Republicans. Socialists blame capitalists. Republicans blame Democrats. Capitalists believe the “market” will solve everything. In the middle? Military retirees, the homeless, indigent, elderly, non-citizens, and particularly, the large population of Baby Boomers. It is particularly vexing in this nation that a number of residents still working in their 70s, may need to continue, to afford living into their 80s and 90s. Others, for whom current healthcare programs should cover, elderly pensioners with chronic health conditions, will exhaust their savings waiting for aid. Many find either their pension barely covers their living expenses or daily medical care – but not both.
As it has been for decades, once the elderly can no longer manage their own care, or overwhelmed family members are unable to care for a chronically-ill relative at home, a nursing home is the available alternative. But at what cost? Affordable care does not necessarily mean poor, but the Government publishes criteria for family members and advocates to evaluate potential nursing facilities for a patient. Even with Government-funded nursing facilities (Federal (VA) and State-run), access (admissions) and then quality of the facility and staff warrant constant oversight. Like the recent scandals with the Veterans Administration hospitals (wait-listed veterans being dropped or errors in mental health evaluations), lapses in care, and bureaucratic mismanagement might well surpass the life expectancy of the patient.
If universal healthcare is eventually adopted in this country, family members and advocacy groups will need to develop political clout, to monitor doctors, clinics, hospitals and nursing facilities continually. And when funding or staffing crises develop, let us hope for more people working on solutions than looking to fix blame.
Truths, Half-truths, and Sea Stories 