Andy's Blog
I have not had a physical in five years. This is not something I am proud of. It is just the truth. I don't get sick very often. Which is good. But the downside is that I haven't been able to find a good general physician.I think it is because I was spoiled living Fort Wayne, IN. I had the greatest doctor from the moment I was born. Dr. Muhler was awesome. Graduated from Notre Dame. Very knowledgeable. Voted by doctors in his community as the doctor they would most like to be treated by. Heck, his father invented fluoride toothpaste for Proctor & Gamble.
Realizing I was coming to Fort Wayne at the end of this month, I figured I would try to schedule a physical with Dr. Muhler, but alas, the next physical appointment available is in November. Ohh well.
But this got me thinking, it wasn't just Dr. Muhler. Fort Wayne, as a whole, has an awesome healthcare community. It is a community that no where else I have lived or been to has been able to compete with.
If my gallbladder needs to say goodbye to my kidney, I want Dr. Justice yanking that sucker out.
If I inadvertently knock somebody up, the first face I want my first child to see is Dr. Alexander.
If I get cancer, the person making my body feel on fire due to the chemo had better be Dr. Rhinehart.
But this post isn't about all the doctors I psuedo-know. It's about Universal Healthcare. Because it hit me how important having a doctor who is knowledgeable and trustworthy is to your overall health.
When we don't feel comfortable with a situation, we are inclined to neglect it. Be it a relationship, or a job, or our healthcare. This would be Universal Healthcare's impact on the American medical community.
People are given less options. They feel less in control. And they ultimately become distrustful of the whole process.
We then would seek out medical care where we can get control. Just like how I was attempting to get a physical close to 600 miles from my home, so will millions Americans if Universal Healthcare becomes a reality. But instead of 600 miles, it will be 6,000 miles as we leave the country to find our best options.
It's called medical tourism, and it would be an inevitable consequence of Universal Healthcare.1
But I hear you on the not wanting to be in a relationship we feel would be neglectful. If I really had a health issue, I have no clue where I would go, because I want to know that I can trust the dr. and well, I know one, but he just does babies...so if I get knocked up - well then I have one picked out, but for anything else, I'm hopeless!
But then there is the problem of - what if the Dr. I want does not take my insurance... then what do I do with that?
In 2007, the US spent $2.3 trillion on healthcare (or $7,600 per person).
Now if we switch to Universal Healthcare, that money has got to come from somewhere, right? It will come in the form of tax increases.
The average American family unit pays around $10,000 in federal taxes.
Let's say the government figures out a super efficient and cost-effective basis of doing healthcare (you know, because they are so good at that in other areas of life), and UH only costs $5,000. That's still a 50% increase in federal taxes to cover it.
Thus, it would bankrupt the American public, drive the economy down, and then ultimately throw the tax revenue in a downward spiral as well.
Not to mention doctors and nurses and administrators would be paid less, thus hurting the economy. And insurance companies would go out of business, thus closing jobs.
I am telling you, it is an economic killer.
You find a new doctor or you get different health insurance. That's the beauty of choice and free market.
Source:
http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml
An universal health insurance would be a much better option. It could be organized in a similar way the Fed or PBS/NPR are organized and it would not lead to more restrictions on choice of doctors than the present system of managed care.
Of course neither supplemental private insurance nor privately paying for medical services should be prohibited by law.
It is very clear that the present system is far from optimal.
Plus, I'll give you that Fort Wayne isn't a "research" medical community. But as far as just great healthcare, with quality doctors, I think it is hard to beat it.
If you say so. ;)