It will not stay the same as the naysayers, GOP and conservative democrats would have you believe.
It is going to change.
So starting over is not an option. Leaving it alone is not an option. Leaving it alone will totally destroy our economic system.
I'm talking about everything. Losing America is the only option if we start over or if we do nothing to fix healthcare, right now.
And it's already happening. Witness the stories in today's news about doctors refusing to treat medicare patients because of the way the current system reimburses them for treatment. The current formula ties doctor payments to the economy.
The current economy sucks...and so consequently, do the reimbursements to doctors. In other words they are getting a pay cut. Some doctors don't like this, so they are refusing to take new medicare patients and are finding ways to drop the old medicare patients, as well.
Baby Boomers are in big trouble as they enter senior citizenship.
We already know that health insurance companies are raising rates, witness the 25% average rate hike this year to everyone who already has insurance, except congress, of course. Wellpoint, which made billions last year in profit, wants to kick rates up at a 39% clip.
That's not going to hurt those who don't have insurance, but it's going to wreak hell with the paychecks of those who do and want to keep it for their families.
My question is, where is it written that corporations have to be protected from financial loss? Why must their profit margins be maintained at all costs? Because that is all this is. The corporations and their lackys in Congress are protecting their collective ass, while the rest of us are barely treading water or drowning outright.
The myth that your healthcare will stay the same is just not true. The system is skewed against the people it is supposed to be helping.
What is going to happen, according to the experts is a rapid deterioration in the system. It is going to get worse, not better, nor stay the same. This will happen because medical costs are going up and the increases are jumping faster than the economy. Weekly paychecks are not keeping up.
Higher costs mean higher premiums, mean fewer businesses will be able to afford insurance coverage, meaning more people will end up without health insurance. Medicare and Medicaid will come to the brink of implosion, forcing the government to deal with the situation.
Federal bankruptcy is a very real possibility, if the system is allowed to stay the same.
A family today, pays about $13,000 per year for health insurance. In 10 years that same family will be paying $24,000 per year. And there is no way that paychecks are going to be able to keep up with that.
Yearly raises and bonuses at the lower levels in corporate America are right around 2-4% in a good year.
With the anticipated rate increases today, it is expected that more than a million people will lose health insurance per year, as things stand now. By 2019 experts predict that 66 million people will be without health care insurance if things stay the same. Right now that figure is 49 million people currently without insurance.
Analysts predict that as many as 275,000 people will die prematurely over the next 10 years, simply because they have no insurance coverage.
Individuals lucky enough to have insurance, will find they have less coverage and protection while spending more money.
Healthcare in America is like finding a leak in your front yard. The water service line from the curb to your house is broken and needs to be repaired. Ignore it and the leak gets worse. Do nothing and suddenly you have a swimming pool where your front yard used to be, threatening your rose garden and flowers and the very foundation of your home.
It must be fixed. The same holds true for healthcare in America. It must be fixed.
Little fixes won't do it. President Nixon tried unsuccessfully to reform health care. If he had been successful, experts tell us the US would be spending a trillion dollars per year less than it does now. Top off the Nixon plan with what Bill Clinton tried to do and the country would be shelling out even less...about $500 billion a year less.
That's a big chunk of the deficit that would not be there, if healthcare had been dealt with before now.
The bottom line...
fix it now or risk losing everything, later. Facing reality is tough. But don't take my word for it.
Take a good look at what is going on around you, be honest and make a decision because the building is shaking...the quake has already started.
On Wednesday....Obama will point the way forward. Check it out here.
