As the Presidential race heats up it is hardly surprising to discover that health care and in particular health insurance is high on the agenda and, for tens of thousands of people, the potential for solving the problem of getting cheap insurance coverage for people suffering from pre-existing conditions might make Hillary Clinton's plan an attractive choice. But will it work?
As with the majority of proposals it sounds great and promises to offer new choices for those who currently have insurance coverage and also for the forty-seven million Americans who are currently without health insurance. In addition, it promises to cut your monthly premiums and give you greater security of cover. For individuals suffering from pre-existing conditions it promises to "end discrimination based on pre-existing conditions or expectations of illness".
This new plan to meet America's health insurance requirements calls upon insurers to work with employers and patients to provide a high standard of health care at an affordable price and also calls on government to implement reforms to the health care system to both raise the quality of care and decrease costs.
This of course is precisely what we all want to see but if it were that simple why is the health care system in such a mess today and why are costs increasing instead of declining?
The truth is that this is merely the latest in a growing list of proposals to reform the health care system and is nothing more than pie in the sky. In effect it is nothing more than a political document which is extremely well written and beautifully presented and will undoubtedly to some extent meet its objective, which is quite simply to win votes. However, it will not do anything to improve the health care system as it is simple does not address real world issues.
Health care today is big business and it has little to do with providing health care and everything to do with earning profits for the insurers. Now you can talk to the insurers all day long however, unless the government is willing to throw money at the problem then costs are not going to come down.
Anyone who has experience of private medical treatment carried out abroad will know only too well that a large portion of the cost of providing care in the US represents profits for the insurer and not the actual cost of providing care. You have only to seek medical treatment in any of the wonderful hospitals in the Far East for example to realize that you can get the highest quality of care at a mere fraction of the cost of getting that same treatment in the United States. And if you believe that the standard of treatment abroad is not as good as that in the United States then think again because a lot of the medical facilities throughout the Far East are staffed by highly qualified doctors and surgeons and have some of the most modern equipment you will find anywhere in the world.
It is all very well to talk about working with the insurance companies to lower costs but the simple fact of the matter is that it is not in their interests to do so. Costs will stay at their present high levels and indeed will continue to rise until the US government decides to take over the responsibility for the provision of the mainstay of health care in the United States.
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