Healthcare Insurance versus Medical Care by Rich Swier

There has been much discussion about healthcare insurance. Let me add my humble voice to this discussion.

I recently went to my doctor and he said to me that healthcare insurance is a civil right. He even had a poster taped to his desk saying so. That is wonderful and noble but wrong headed. Healthcare insurance is not a civil right, it is a bet with an insurance company that I will not be healthy.

Each of us makes decisions each day on what we will spend our hard earned dollars on. I am retired. I pay for the basic necessities of life such as food, shelter, clothing, and a car. I am blessed in that my wife and I made some good financial decisions over our lifetime and are able to support ourselves. In addition to the necessities, I pay for insurance as a hedge against a variety of disasters. I have life, property, personal liability, and car insurance. I even have insurance on my car in case I am hit by a person without insurance. Finally, I have healthcare insurance. Actually, I have three healthcare insurance policies - one from my wife's employer, Medicare supplemental insurance, and long term care policy. Insurance is a great business or racket, depending on who you talk with.

Today you see TV ads and hear the AARP, members of Congress, and of course our Presidential candidates talking about healthcare insurance. Politicians never talk about the 250 million of us already paying for some form of healthcare insurance coverage for us and our families. I think that is a fantastic record compared to say China or India or Mexico. The favorite line from liberals is there are 47 million Americans without healthcare insurance. This is portrayed as a national crisis and you and I are guilty because there is someone someplace suffering because you and I are not providing them with all the health insurance they need. Do you feel guilty enough yet?

Let's have some straight talk about healthcare insurance versus medical care. No one in America goes without medial care. Anyone, including illegal aliens, can walk into any emergency room in any hospital and get medical care. We even provide free medical care to terrorists who want to kill us. Who pays for all this medical care? You and me. If the hospital is a public one, like Sarasota Memorial Hospital, county taxpayers pay the bill. If it is a private hospital, like our local Doctor's Hospital, it gets passed on to us taxpayers as Medicaid reimbursements or the hospital charges you and me pay when we visit. This free medical care to those without healthcare insurance is passed on to you and me in higher taxes, higher health insurance premiums or both. People are not dying in the streets for lack of medical care. They are dying in the streets from vicious gangs and drug deals gone bad.

Now to the bottom line. Who should have and who should pay for health insurance? As a conservative I believe it is up to the individual to decide if he or she will purchase health insurance. When the individual decides they want health insurance they then work and budget to pay for it. If the individual cannot afford it then families should step in to help. They help by adding family members to existing policies or providing funds to pay for a son, daughter, grandson or granddaughter, brother or sister's medical care or insurance until that family member can afford it on their own. That is the American way. Families taking care of one another.

Today most individuals or families have health insurance through their employers. Entrepreneurs and small business owners are self-insured. So having a job will do one of two things: the employer will provide coverage or the individual will have money and buy a personal health insurance policy. Some are proposing that we move away from an employer based system to an individual based system. In this system individuals get the tax breaks that companies do for providing healthcare insurance. The concept is exciting because it puts power back into the hands of individuals. As a conservative I like that. Let me make the decision on what coverage I want to meet my needs, not a company or government entity.

Now that I have solved the problem of who should have healthcare insurance and who should pay for it, let's discuss the real political issue.

The political argument is not about you and I having access to medical care, we already have that. The political discussion is who should be the insurance company - the private sector or government. Let me give you a personal example. I am a retired military officer. I have access to medical care through Tri-care for Life and the Veterans Administration (VA). The VA is socialized medicine. What do you hear in the news about the VA? Patient backlogs, veterans falling thru the cracks, long wait times for medical procedures, rationing of medical care, the growing costs of providing medical care, and the need to increase co-pays.The VA system is a parallel government run medical system to private/public hospitals and local clinics. The costs to run such a system are huge. VA is the largest federal government agency, even bigger than the Department of Defense.

As a user of the VA system I get an annual physical including all lab work. I pay for this in part because I have a higher income than other veterans. My supplemental insurance covers most of these co-pays. The VA does a great job on physicals. I see my VA doctor annually, that is it. I cannot call my VA doctor when I am sick or need routine outpatient care. I have another local civilian doctor who is my general practitioner. He refers me to other, non-VA doctors, for specialty care which is covered by my wife's insurance with Tri-care for Life (Medicare for Veterans) as my secondary. Sound complicated? It is and I am a rather healthy 63 year old.

While the VA does great work and provides many veterans with outstanding care it is socialized medicine and does not meet the needs of all veterans. It never will. Why, because it is totally government run. If government can't keep its obligations to our veterans, especially those injured in the line of duty, what makes you think it can take care of all Americans?

The political argument between liberals and conservatives is who should be your insurer. The private sector or government. Who should pay for your medial care? You via the insurance policy you select or government? Which is more efficient? Which is more responsive? Which gives you the decision making power? Which takes that decision making power away from you? Which promotes individual responsibility? Which makes you dependent on government largesse?

There is no such thing as a free lunch. So it is with healthcare insurance. I either pay for my medical care or depend on the government to provide me with medical care. My experiences with the government run VA system tells me to depend on me, myself and I.