A Conservative Case for Universal Health Coverage

American Thinker: A Conservative Case for Universal Health Coverage: “I am a small-government conservative/libertarian and have hated the concept of socialized medicine almost all my life. But now, I could live with universal health coverage in the U.S.. Here’s why. “

Nice article and true although not Republican. Private medical insurance for those not qualifying for the socialized part of our system is not the answer. We are paying for socialized medicine for the poor and we are also paying for the government layer and the insurance layer that just adds to the cost of health care. Those getting ripped off are people who pay out of their own pocket or that have private health insurance. Those with health insurance are hit with premiums, co-payments and deductibles and those without health insurance who pay out of their own pocket pay much more per medical procedure then do others. The only people who make out are the people on the socialized side of our system.

I once wrote about a solution to our medical disgrace.

We need to either go all socialized or everyone needs to pay their own medical costs like they did in the old days and only have some form of catastrophic coverage for all. The way it is now just adds a third to the cost of medicine because of the extra staff and overhead that is needed to comply and pay for governmental and insurance company requirements. We have the worst of two systems. It costs one third more than any other system in the world, and it still is not universal coverage because some people fall through the cracks.

Furthermore, why should employers pay for the medical costs of their employees anyway? Why did employers because responsible for the health care of people working for them? There simply is no sane reason for this to have happened and it makes our businesses far less competitive in the world. The employers could pay their people more money if they did not have this overhead. If employers are paying for the bulk of medical care you already have a socialized medicine system put on the back of employers.