I'm back (and have something to say)

Over the last few months, the topic of "health care" has been the focus of much national attention. Conservatives and liberals calling each other names and refusing to even consider each others opinions. I've been listening and I have a few thoughts of my own.

First, the debate isn't really about "health care", it's about health insurance. I defy anyone to find a country with better overall health care than the U.S. How often do we hear about people from other countries coming here to get treatment for some major ailment? My bet is a lot more often then Americans going elsewhere for treatment.

Some believe that it would be a good thing for the Federal government to provide health insurance for all of us. I don't and for many reasons. One, I prefer not to have the Government involved in my personal business. I don't want Nancy Pelosi or any of her minions to have the power to look through my medical records, for any reason. Also, I've seen how well the government runs things. Social Security, Medicare and other Federal feel good programs are broke or nearly broke. Our highways, bridges, dams and other infrastructure are in disrepair and often poorly managed. Our President himself even pointed out that the Post Office (a quasi government agency) is struggling severely while FedEx and UPS are holding their own. And now we're contemplating letting them control health insurance?

The role of the Federal government is not supposed to be much more than protecting us from our enemies and providing the infrastructure to allow us to have a opportunity to make the most of ourselves. To ensure equal opportunities, NOT equal results. It is not to provide for us from cradle to grave.

I also have a problem with the notion that our employers "owe" us health insurance. The only people any employer "owes" health insurance is those who are covered by a union (or personal service) contract that includes health insurance benefits. Just because someone decides to employ me, that doesn't automatically, magically make them responsible for my health insurance, any more than they should be responsible for my car, house, boat or any other insurance. If they decide to provide a benefit of that type, great for me. If not, I can either do without, find insurance elsewhere or get a job that does provide insurance.

There are a few things that I think could be done to improve the situation:

1. Instead of the employer (for those who are covered at work) requiring all employees to chose from a few select plans, giving the same amount of money (maybe in the form of vouchers) to each employee to use to secure their own plan (which could include the employer provided plan). Such monies would be exempt from income tax (as it is now) provided it is used for health insurance. Unused moneys would be taxable as income.

2. Do something about the malpractice suits. If the hospital makes a mistake, they should be financially responsible for monetary and other damages. However, these huge amounts people are given in "punitive" damages are causing the rates doctors pay for insurance to go up at a rate of at least three times inflation. Their rates go up, their fees go up, insurance costs go up and then, premiums go up (and doctors practice defensive medicine, ordering test after test to protect themselves in case of a law suit). Put a cap on punitive damages so that people are not essentially winning the lottery just because a doctor made a mistake. And if lawyers were not permitted to use punitive damages to calculate their fees, they might be a little more selective as to which case they actually take.

3. If a person has more than one job and they each provide health insurance benefits( or a husband and wife have both have jobs that provide for health insurance) figure out a way in which the benefits can be combined at a reduced overall cost to the employers (and to the worker)

4. Remove the percentage cap on the amount of medical expenses that someone can deduct from their tax's. Premiums, co-pays, meds should all be deductible at their full cost if we are going to provide for any deduction at all.

These are just a few ideas that could be considered. But whatever, I don't want Uncle Sam deciding what coverage I'm going to have, who I'm going to get it from or what specific benefits must be covered. (If an insurance company wants to cover abortions, for example, and I don't want any of my money going to these procedures, then I should be able to find a carrier that doesn't cover them. On a side note, I'm not sure that insurance companies should cover birth control pills, condoms or Viagra. Why should my money be used, in part, to pay for someone ese's "fun"?).