Recently, I’ve been asked about my thoughts on the push for universal health care. Now, I can quickly say that I agree with the idea of universal health care. I believe that health care should be universal. Ideally, health care would be similar to the way we look at the fire department or the police department.
The difficulty lies in giving my thoughts on the current health care bill. Honestly, I don’t believe I’m smart enough (or have enough time) to parse thru the specifics and determine if it is good or not. This problem is further compounded by the fact that I go to left-leaning media for my information on the bill (just as my conservative friends read right-leaning media for their information). The result is just an argument over talking points that neither of us is 100% familiar with. This isn’t just a problem with health care, but with most issues in politics.
This is my attempt to state my feelings on some of the properties of the health care argument.
Does health care need to be reformed?
Yes, and I can’t imagine anyone disagreeing with health care reform. I think I heard that health care costs have gone up 6x faster then wages. We have a high cost for health care and satisfaction is comparatively low. The big debate is how, and how much, should it be reformed.
Should we tax the rich for universal health care?
Yes, I have no issue with the rich helping to pay for health care for the uninsured. The wealthiest 1% take home 20% of the income in America. I have a hard time feeling sorry for increased taxes so that we can have universal health care. So, increasing the wealthiest 1%’s federal tax rate back to where it was in the mid 90s seems like a fine solution. it’s also a simple solution that isn’t difficult to enact or understand.
Is that enough?
Probably not, but it’s a start. It would be 0.15% of the GDP in the next 10 years, but Iraq & Afghanistan cost more than 1.0% of the GDP in the past 10 years. I think it’s incredible that people don’t question how we will pay for defense and security, but health care is a big question.
Is it OK to ration health care?
Rationing is the idea that you would put a value on life. A treatment that is expensive and would only give someone a few extra months might not be deemed worth the expense. If this occurred, it wouldn’t be offered for those under the government plan. We give life a value in dozens of other government entities, so I don’t see how health care should be any different. It’s cold and ugly, but if it saves more lives by using the money elsewhere, I think it’s probably worth it.
Only rolling back taxes to what it was in the mid 90′s? That won’t cover health care. The top .5 percetile should be taxed at 50%.
–dan
Well, I’d roll it back to mid 90s level for 350k and more, then rase it more for over 500,000 and even more for over a million.
In general abortions should not be covered under a government plan. Only when the life of the mother is at risk should it be considered.
If abortions were illegal, I’d agree with you 100%. The fact is they are legal and likely to stay that way for a long time, so they should be covered.
Cosmetic surgery is legal too. I highly doubt that a universal healthcare plan would cover anything unless the life of the patient was in danger.
–dan
Dan – There are hundreds of things that fall between purely elective/cosmetic surgery and things that are life and death issues and they are covered by health insurance. Say like removing a plantars wart. Medical issues do not need to be life and death to get insurance coverage.