The Monday Muse: Obama’s Health Plan
Well…if you haven’t heard anything about Obama’s health plan then you have been living in a cave. It has been all the rage the past few weeks. To be honest, I haven’t looked at all of the details myself. When Obama talked about his health insurance ideas on the campaign trail I was more than skeptical. I’m not positive that a government dominated health plan/strategy is a step in the right direction. I agree that people should be able to get the needed coverage for an affordable rate. But eliminating competition doesn’t ensure affordability. In fact, a single payer health insurance plan would open the door to higher rates.
Anyway…like I said, I haven’t thought about all the ins and outs of Obama’s new plan. That’s where you come in.
Do you think Obama’s health insurance plan is a good idea? Why or why not?
Remember to play nice. Also…be sure to leave good answers. I’m counting on you to get me in the know.
2 Comments
burnshead
As much as I aspire to be a well informed, participating voter, I often fall short of my desired degree of knowledge about the issues. I feel the same on this one. But based on what I do understand, I’m none too pleased with the proposed bill.
In general I believe MOST services / functions can be most effectively and efficiently trusted to the private sector. I prefer as little government intervention as we can get away with, because government intervention leads to things getting bloated, bureaucratic, and expensive.
It all comes down to this for me: At the end of the day, I want to be able to fire my healthcare provider if I don’t like the service I’m receiving. Any plan that doesn’t allow me to do this is unacceptable in my mind.
I don’t claim to be knowledgeable on the finer points of this proposed plan, but I found this article to be extremely helpful in outlining five major losses of freedom that “Obamacare” will lead to (if passed):
1. You lose the freedom to choose what’s included in your healthcare plan
2. You lose the freedom of being rewarded for healthy living, and freedom to pay real care costs
3. You lose the freedom to choose high-deductible coverage
4. You lose the freedom to keep your existing plan [very interesting]
5. You lose the freedom to choose your doctors [not cool]
Full article here: http://tinyurl.com/mpd5ue
Jeff Lash
I agree with you Burns. I think less government is better. Government is good for keeping general order of things so that chaos doesn’t ensue. However, government is terrible for micro-managing every detail of a person’s life.
The big issue, as you’ve stated it, seems to be choice. We want the ability to make informed choices on what plans we choose, how much we pay (or how much coverage we want), what doctors we use, etc. From what I understand about Obama’s ideas, he is concerned with every American having health insurance in order that every American can have access to care when needed. I think Obama’s desire is noble but I don’t know if socializing health care is the answer. Of course, that brings on the debate on whether you believe that health care is the right of every American or a privilege. There will always be those who abuse the rights that are given to them. Yet should that ruin the perception that health care should be available for all? I need to think on this some more…or need someone to give me a real compelling argument one way or another. Any takers?