Medical Insurance

The medical insurance costs in USA have gone through the roof in the past five years. More and more employers have upped the deductibles and co-pay amounts and reduced the benefits. Added to this is the HMO model.

If you meet people who work minimum wage jobs, many of them have not been to a dentist in years. They just don't have / can't afford coverage. Some of them are not offered medical insurance as an option and some pass up the coverage as the cost puts them in a deeper hole in trying to live from paycheck to paycheck.

It is a sad commentary on Capitalism. USA still practices capitalism in it purest or most extreme form. Everything has to be determined by market forces, supply and demand.

The lawmakers have to look at making exceptions and, like the other developed countries, socialize medical coverage. You cannot have a populace that is running around with broken/missing teeth. People should go to a doctor when required and not when possible. I lived in Canada prior coming to the USA. My wife and I both had regular medical check-ups done for preventative reasons while living in Canada.

When one is unable to attend to a medical situation for oneself or a loved one, it creates a certain level of anxiety in the mind. As the sufferer, that you are unable to have the underlying cause of your medical problem cured. Instead, you end up seeking advice from other similarly situated unfortunate souls and look at OTC / herbal remedies.

The argument against universal healthcare is that the government will mismanage it. As though it is being managed by the private sector properly! It is just that there are so many layers such as employers, deductibles, co-pays, insurance companies, doctors, malpractice insurance, frivolous lawsuits, ambulance chasing lawyers, pharma companies, pharma advertisements, claim denials and cafetaria plans that you don't know where to put the blame. Also, the lawmakers pass their hats around to many of these layers for their election campaign funding and mouth whatever that industry wants them to say.

I go to a doctor for a superficial skin infection. I get an appointment after 3 weeks. An assistant / trainee checks me and the doctor spends all of 3 minutes with me. When the claims are settled, I find that the doctor has charged $250 to the Insurance company! Then, I take the prescription to the pharmacy. They charge $100 for a the ointment. My co-pay is $20! This is just crazy. I have decent medical insurance for me and my family. What about those that don't have the coverage. Would they even get an appointment with a good doctor (the front office girls are trained to find out the kind of insurance coverage and then fix an appointment)? Even if they get it, how often can they afford it?

So, you have at least 50 million people in the richest country in the world going about their daily life without appropriate medical attention.

The whole system is broken. HMOs are a joke. Too many layers are trying to make money. Too many people have the additional anxiety of hanging on to jobs they don't like just for the benefit of medical insurance offered by the employer. Universal coverage is the only answer. At least there is a basic coverage. Countries like Canada, UK, Sweden, Singapore, France, etc, are not wrong when they offer universal medical coverage.

God knows who will initiate this. The one most affected are working too hard and suffering silently. This is a basic human right. Any country that denies it is denying some of the basic human rights for its own citizens