Indy

Since this seems to be one of the major topics in this election lets see if we can't come up with a solution that will we acceptable to everyone. Remember, you have to compromise; stonewalling and partisan hysteria is not welcome in this thread.

My thoughts:
As a first world nation I feel that there is no reason that healthcare should not be affordable and readily available for every citizen. From what I've seen on this forum it seems that nobody disagrees with this general premise. The arguments and name calling (i.e. liberal nutjob, right-wing sheep) usually starts when people present their plan to make this idea a reality. The current system does not work, this is also not disputed from what I can gather. So what do we do about it?

First, all children under the age of 18 should be covered regardless of what decisions their parents make. The child isn't informed or responsible enough to make the decision of whether or not to buy health insurance and some parents choose or are unable to supply that insurance to them so the government should in good conscience set up a system that provides the coverage. Should every taxpayer be required to pay into a system that covers free healthcare to children under 18? I believe so. The obvious argument against this would be "why should I have to be burdened because some poor mother can't keep her legs closed?" or "If someone has more kids than they can afford that's their problem". I can see the rational to making these arguments, and quite honestly, that's how I feel as well. But, the fact of the matter is that these children have no say over what family they are born into or how much money their parents make or even if their parents are responsible and not lazy leeches on society. How can we ignore them and still consider ourselves to be moral? I propose that we all just suck it up and do the right thing by paying a little more in taxes. Does anyone have any explanations why we shouldn't, or perhaps a way to guarantee healthcare to every child without imposing taxes on the populous as a whole?

With children out of the way, I also think that every adult should have access to affordable and available healthcare. This one is more difficult by far. I don't want to pay taxes so that some leech who doesn't work can have brain surgery, but I wouldn't mind paying more in taxes so that an adult who makes minimum wage and can't afford insurance is covered. My first thought would be to require all employers to provide health insurance for their employees and unemployed people who can prove they have made a reasonable effort to secure a job they are qualified for to be covered by taxes that go into an unemployment health insurance type of program. The problem with that is that not all employers can afford a system like this. So I started thinking, how can we provide health insurance for people who are employed but can't possibly afford their own policies while still keeping it fair to those of us who have insurance already? Allow employers to utalize the unemployment health insurance program for their employees if they can show that the company profits wouldn't cover the added cost? Maybe, but I'm sure a program like that would be abused. Maybe the answer can be found by reducing the cost of insurance premiums? How would be do that? Doctors are forced to overcharge everyone because insurance companies only pay a percentage of the bill and stick the doctor or patient with the balance. In order to recoup what the tests actually cost to perform they are forced to raise their prices, and can't charge patients who have insurance a different rate than those without because that is illegal. I think the gov't should pass into law that an insurance company is required to pay in full the balance of the bill submitted to them which would allow doctors to reduce how much they charge for services. I also think that any insurance company who no longer lists doctors as approved care providers as retaliation for being reported for lack of payment should be severely punished, and vice versa any doctor who is price gouging should be severely punished, similar to how we deal with gas stations. This would lower health care costs and possibly bring health insurance into a range that someone working minimum wage can afford. Your thoughts?

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Affiant further sayeth not.