September 30, 10:27 am
What say you? How should health care / health insurance be structured?
The history of health insurance in the United States starts about the time of the Civil War. Most early plans only covered accidents occurring during travel. It wasn’t until 1929 that a modern-looking group healthcare plan was created.
Healthcare as an employer-provided benefit didn’t become popular until WWII, when President Roosevelt’s wage freezes led employers to attract better employees with improved benefits packages — which included health care.
In case you’ve been under a rock for the past year, heath insurance reform in our country is increasingly a political hot potato. The latest Rasmussen Poll on the subject shows 41 percent of voters in support of the proposal coming out of the White House, while 56 percent are opposed.
The country has seen fiery town hall meetings on the subject, but I’d like to go beyond the basic “support / oppose.” Our country is great because of the initiative and ingenuity our people have when given the opportunity to capitalize on an idea.
My question – what solution do YOU think will work best? What needs to be changed in health care? But more importantly, how? In other words, if we could start with a clean slate, how should a health care system be structured that is fair and equitable for all?
Is health care a “right”? Should it be guaranteed? If so, how should it be structured? If health care is not a right, how should it be structured?
I’d like to hear what you have to say — My only request is that responses be objective. Leave any personal jabs and slams off the table.
Again, the question is, “If we could start from scratch, how should health care / health insurance be structured?”
Filed in Best Practices, Business, Opinion, Health Care, Workplace, Corporate Culture, Retention
As with all things, getting the government involved makes it less efficient, less effective and removes incentive for ingenuity. Therefore, I advocate an entirely free market approach, wherein the government has no piece in health care whatever; they would neither fund nor legislate anything to do with health or wellness. Insurance has had a negative effect on the free market, as well. People don’t shop for the best deals in clinics or pharmacies because all they have to worry about is their co-pay. As a result, medical professionals and drug companies can charge what they can get away with rather than what the market demands. Unfortunately, in our society, as it stands, no one is very fond of personal responsibility. So I am sure most people will think I am cold and unfeeling and that I don’t care about those making minimum wage who can’t afford medical care. Something as important as health would be a priority item for which people would be willing to plan and save if they had to. And maybe that would help to bring back the idea of personal responsibility, wherein it is no ones responsibility to take care of me but my own; that I see as a VERY good thing.