Everyone has something to say about Universal Health Care. Rush Limbaugh, recently said he’d move to Costa Rica for medical treatment if Congress passes universal health care. How ironic? Moving to Costa Rica would also require Limbaugh to pay into a government-run social security system even if he was retired and had private health insurance. There's also so much Capitol Hill controversy and hypocrisy over the passing of health care reform.
Right now I'm tired of seeing so many ailing musician friends fighting a plethora of health problems - high blood pressure, depression, alcoholism, obesity, heart problems, arthritis, cancer, etc., etc - without any type of viable health insurance. Being that many of my friends are independent contractors, month after month, they're required to pay a king's sum from their paychecks into health insurance premiums, high-cost medications, and high insurance deductibles and co-payments. To stop these abuses, there's no question that our country needs some form of health care reform.
A major bulk of the 12 trillion U.S. debt, covers medical, medicaid, and medicare. And medicare alone, costs $500 BILLION. So there is a need for universal health care to drive down health care costs. But how do we fund it?
Perhaps cutting down on defense spending? 17% of our budget covers the military. What if for starters, we reduce the 50,000 troops in Afghanistan and the tens of thousands of troops in Germany and Okinawa?
What about legalizing and implementing taxes on marijuana? I'm not a pot smoker, but already 44% of the U.S. population feels marijuana should be decriminalized. Would cannabis serve as a natural substitution that can lower steep medication costs, such as Prozac? Would its legalization create less deaths and overdoses from prescription medications? What do you think the massive state and federal taxation on marijuana crops do to the health care reform landscape?
Finally, there's the issue of the monopolistic insurance system and how it's driving multitudes of hard-working Americans into filing bankruptcy. It is estimated that 62% of all U.S. bankruptcies are due to medical problems. And much of it is medical debt disguised as credit card debt.
This Debt Free League press release will give you a broader perspective of what I'm trying to say: Cancer Patient's Medical Debt Ends in Brother's Credit Card Debt Settlement Victory over Bankruptcy
Perfect or not, at least the Obama-pledged universal health care system is a step in the right direction. Our country bleeds for a democratic system of checks and balances to keep the insurance companies humble, and crush their monopolies.
What's your opinion?
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment