I suppose I’m not the only person sick of the healthcare debate. Obamacare has passed, has been upheld by the United States Supreme Court and is now the law of the land.  Now it’s simply a matter of trying to get the system to work properly which it clearly has not since its inception.  But Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act, is not the topic for this, my final word on the topic.  That final statement and I want to be clear is that healthcare is not a perk or anything that we should be excited about.  It’s simply a necessary part of life because at some point all of us will require medical care. It just makes my blood boil when I hear about countries like Canada and Sweden where their people just love their healthcare.  How and why would anyone love healthcare?  It’s a necessary evil, that’s all.  I suppose it makes their people feel better that their countries are at least doing something for their less fortunate.  In addition to high income taxes the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) on all goods and services in Toronto for example, is 13%.  While I can’t speak for Sweden, I can speak for Canada, a country I love and a place I have spent much time over the past 15 years.  While everyone does indeed have health coverage, the poor people still live in sub-par neighborhoods where no one reading this blog would want to live.  So I pose this question to anyone who wants to listen.  With the cost of healthcare being what it is, wouldn’t it make more sense to spend less money on healthcare and use that money so everyone could live better lives, in nicer neighborhoods with better housing.  But the crazy mentality of most people is this obsessive, preoccupation with being prepared in case you get catastrophically sick. It’s nuts.

WHAT HEALTHCARE SHOULD BE

This is my proposal on how healthcare should work in a modern democracy. Those who can afford to pay full price for a doctor’s visit, should.  Instead of paying $30 pay $150 and leave the blood sucking insurance companies out of it.  Then there should be basic coverage for those who can’t afford insurance and catastrophic care available to all. That’s how simple it should be.  Everyone pays something and the government, federal and state, subsidize the rest through our tax dollars.  It would remove untold costs from the system by making it far more efficient.  Unfortunately, insurance companies own many of our politicians and there is too much money in healthcare to ever make real changes.  Obamacare and single payer are both not the answers.  At some point we will all be homeless and hungry but we’ll all have healthcare. How crazy we are!