Healthcare and Choices

How many Americans are faced with a choice between purchasing health insurance and buying food to feed their families? No, not Twinkies and luxury food items, basic beans and rice to keep their families alive. I don’t know the answer to that question, but I can tell you that a lot of them used to work for me. When I would ask my workers to sign up for the $40/month deduction that my company charged for the health plan that was offered the guys would tell me that doing so would mean their family skipping one or two meals per week. They simply could not afford to do it.

Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan offers choices. Americans can sign up with any insurance plan they want, but they are required to obtain and maintain health insurance. They get a tax break, but that doesn’t help much when you are already below the tax threshold. The guys that worked for me have a choice of which one or two weekly meals they don’t feed their families.

Rose Ann DeMoro has it right when she posted on the Huffington Post that Hillary learned the wrong thing in 1994. Not being able to obtain health insurance is part of the problem, but you can’t solve it merely by mandating coverage. That’s what I call the “magic wand” approach, and there is far too much magical thinking in our government already. We certainly don’t need to add more.

As Ms. DeMoro points out, the problem is affordability of health insurance and the lack of actual coverage provided when you do have insurance. Read the lady’s post; she presents the issue with great clarity.

Probably because her thinking isn’t clouded by campaign contributions.