It doesn’t get any crazier than the debate over health care and my radio show proved it! Nothing has riled the public so much this year than the heath care debate. It’s 1/6th of the economy and everyone has an opinion.
In 2006, we spent $2.1 Trillion in Health Care- more than we spent on food, almost as much as the worldwide petroleum market. We spend more per capita on health care than the Chinese spend on everything! We spend 2.5 times more than the median of the rest of the world.
Contrary to popular belief, we do not have the best health care system in the world. We are not healthier than the rest of the world when you look at infant mortality rates and life expectancy.
Why is this. Who is to blame? The lawyers with huge lawsuits for malpractice? Greedy insurance executives and wasteful bureaucracy? (Multiple health plans that make my head spin). Pharmaceutical companies who charge outrageous amounts for drugs? Doctors who perform unneeded tests just to protect themselves or do un needed procedures because they are more profitable?
It’s a complex debate but we can all agree on one thing- it’s a total mess! 47 million Americans don’t have health insurance. Huge and unpayable medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in this country. Skyrocketing health insurance are hurting not only small biz owners but their ability to hire employees and in turn people’s ability to get jobs. The current health care system is making people like me who have a preexisting condition like diabetes go broke. This year, my monthly health insurance premium will be larger than my mortgage. The increase in my premium this year was 110%. And as they say, that is not where the pain ends; many times when I file a claim I get a run around or an argument. I once had to file legal action against Healthnet in the state of California to get paid.
Something must change. My solution:
1. We should not require small business to have insurance for their employees. The burden is too great on small business.
2. We should focus instead on making insurance more competitive and affordable for all through insurance cooperatives or some form of a public option like Medicare.
3. There should not be a penalty for pre-existing condition.
4. We should focus on health care not just health insurance by encouraging prevention treatment and healthy lifestyle. Think Quality.
5. We need to focus on reducing the administrative expenses and bureaucracy to reduce the overall cost.
We had a really big show with guests:
Terry Hush at ICLOPS whose company focuses on delivering better better quality health care and reduce the administrative costs.
Dr. Marsha Firestone, President of Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) who believes that women owned companies will be more negatively impacted than most from the health care iniatives in Congress.
Sam Gibbs, EHealthInsurance on how individual and small businesses can maxmimize their access to affordable health care now.
Rob Wilson, Employco talks about the burden on small business if mandatory insurance was required.
Phil Lebherz, Foundation For Health Coverage Education, has worked at insurance cooperatives and talks about what works and what does not work.
Stephen Hyde, President of Hyde RX Services Corporation is the author if “Cured! The Insider’s Handbook for Health Care Reform” talks about focusing on Health Care not Just Health Insurance.
Cynthia Drasler, discusses how to help the system is to focus on improving our own health through chemical free living.
Scott Dowling, President, Ramage & Sheahen, who discusses that it is a state issure and not a federal issue.
Listen to the Show now!
[…] See original here: Barry Moltz » Blog Archive » Fixing Health Care for Small Business […]
People need to keep talking like you to try and get our lawmakers to listen. Unfortuanately, we don’t have the $influence$ that the insurance companies do.
By the way, my wife hurt her neck one day and was unable to move. Her mother, a nurse thinking it could be very serious, called an ambulance. It was $750.
Our insurance company denied the claim and to this point we have not been able to discern exactly why.
A system that rewards doctors for ordering unnecessay tests and procedures while at the same time discourages the patient from doing something about their health until they have a serious problem is screwed up to say the least.
I don’t see how “health insurance” reform is going to solve this.
Barry,
Thank you for shedding some light on this important issue. Frankly, it’s a national disgrace to have the system that we do.
I have lived in countries with universal health-care and given the choice, I’d rather have a Canadian style system than the US one. In Canada, your health care coverage is always with you. You are covered at all times.
In contrast, here in the USA there is national level anxiety over one’s ability to be able to afford insurance as well as uncertainty over being ejected from your plan should you become seriously ill.
The USA insurance industry is an odd thing. In other countries insurance is about protecting people from total financial annihilation should they fall sick. Here it’s about enriching the few.
The only people that appear to like the current system are those running the health insurance cartel.
While I’m a capitalist, I do understand that a few things are too important to be left in the hands of those whose only concern is profit.
Individuals out and about in the working world have been very absorbed in the daily chore of splitting time between employment and home life with little concern for health care. This is probably because while in the employ of a large corporation a minimal amount of income was to collect from the paycheck. It is so easy for any individual to overlook this one small detail. Easy to overlook until the individual is considering purchasing low cost health insurance for a new business just getting started.
At some point this eats away into the individual’s eternal core until something finally snaps. Perhaps a new direction is in order to incorporate eternal peace within. Now is the time for taking that first step and trying your own hand. Life as an entrepreneur competing joining others in a very busy world. In the beginning the individual might seek out a part time position, but ultimately spending more and more time in your own adventure.
Opening your own business is one of the most difficult things to attempt, but in the long run it is well worth the added effort. The stumbling block is in the addition of health insurance coverage. Over the past few months the individual has managed to research many important factors to opening up a small business and though all the potential problems reached a compromising conclusion the area of insurance still remains monumental.
I’ve just finished my course and finding CNA employment should be easy enough now, right? Thanks for your tips.