My Thoughts on Healthcare - as posted Sept.8, 2009

As a sick person who just recently experienced the marvel of the American healthcare system, I decided to write a few thoughts about it.

On Friday I woke up with a sore throat. Afraid of getting sick, I drank lots of water and invested in some throat lozenges. For the next three days I took vitamin C and other vitamins to help my immune system, which were easily purchased from a successful business that participates in the wonderful American free market system. Seeing no improvement this morning, in fact, taking a turn for the worse, I called my doctor and scheduled an appointment with one of his PAs for two hours later in the day. Try doing that in the UK.

I walked into my doctor’s office at the exact time of my appointment and was seen 20 minutes later. Not a great wait time, but not a bad one. There were people who were there before me, that weren’t called in front of me. We’ll get to that in a minute.

I was seen within 15 minutes in the waiting room, diagnosed, handed prescription scripts and sent to the font desk. I sheepishly explained how I had recently changed jobs and do not carry insurance. I reassured the clerk that I would be paying the full amount today with no problem. She took my credit card and changed $55 and I went on my way.

I then went straight to Walgreens and placed my prescription scripts in a little box outside of a window in the drive-thru. The clerk behind the window said, “We are a little behind today, give us two hours.”

Two hours?! I thought to myself. My lungs are burning right now! Just then, the newsbreak came on the radio and reminded me about President Obama’s speech to children today to try to salvage some poll numbers. Realizing that the messiah’s healthcare bill would change my two-hour wait into two weeks, heck, in most cases, two months I quickly turned my head and said, “No problem.”

I came home and marveled at what a glorious experience I’ve had in the great American health system. I was sick, immediately able to see a qualified medical professional for diagnosis and able to get my prescriptions within two hours of me turning them in.

When have you ever had anything close to that type of efficiency when dealing with ANYTHING government controlled?

With any type of government-controlled plan, this would NEVER happen. How do I know this? Remember the people in the waiting room?

There were at least 10 people in the waiting room in front of me. All but 1 I am pretty sure were on Medicare. I mean, I don’t like to judge people’s age, but, they were old. So, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that they were on Medicare since your forced on Medicare after age 65 (there is not enough space in this note to explain this atrocity).

Medicare and Blue Cross/Blue Shield are very similar in how they work. They aren’t the same entity but they are pretty close. Blue Cross/Blue Shield does not allow patients to see anyone but a licensed physician - in other words, a doctor. If you are over 65 and happen to fall and need a hip replacement and some physical therapy, you could not see a PTA (physical therapist assistant) for any of your PT visits. They simply won’t pay.

When I came out of the doctor’s office, 6 of the 10 people in front of me were still there. Why? Because on Medicare they can’t see a PA. Although doctor Miles is pretty chatty, the main reason he is slow to get to you is because he has so MANY patients. For good reason, he’s a great doctor.

You may be thinking, Okay, so, fine, government dictates what type of physician you can see, it sounds like to me they are making sure their patients only see the best of the best. What’s the problem?

Well, for one thing, PAs and PTAs have a great place in the world. For another, if the government can dictate what type of medical professional you can see, they can also dictate everything else. Such as, “You can’t see the doctor for a sinus infection unless you have a fever over 102.” If you go to the doctor, have a sinus infection but without the fever, the government can refuse to pay the doctor. They do it with Medicare patients. If a Medicare patient happened to see a PTA for a PT appointment, Blue Cross/Blue Shield will refuse to pay for the visit.

Of course the American healthcare system is not perfect. That’s because it is run by humans. But it sure is the best thing out there. Just ask the most wealthy in all the other countries all over the world. Ever been to Mayo Clinic? Probably not. But if you happen to ever venture to Minnesota, take a look at the demographics of the Mayo Clinic patients. You’ll see a heck of a lot more than just American’s there.

But what can we do to improve the healthcare system?

The problems in American Healthcare can be summarized in three words: doctors, insurance, and consumers. (I know, I know government could be added to this. But government intervention is only making these problems worse, not creating them. Government intervention will create more problems – and has created more problems – that I feel falls into these categories. Since this is my blog, I’m right.)

In short, doctors (many, but not all) try to screw over insurance companies by coding their cases and their visits to get the most money out of the insurance company, regardless of the actual case.

Many (but not all) insurance companies screw over consumers and doctors every day. I highly doubt I need to elaborate on this one, considering that just about everyone I know doesn’t like insurance companies. I find insurance companies are a lot like lawyers, everyone hates them until they need them.

Lastly, consumers pretty much find any way they can to screw an insurance company. They want to pay as little as possible, and have every bill fully paid - and then some. Obviously those are gross generalizations but you get the idea… It is a major over-simplification, but a good basis.

For these purpose of this explanation, we will assume that each one of these categories contributes to the overall problem of healthcare equally (i.e. 33%). I have a major solution that deals mostly with the insurance part of the problem.

So here it is:

My 25% solution is two-fold –

First, congress MUST stop trying to create a public option/single payer system/UK health care/Canadian health care/whatever new shiny name President Barack Hussein Obama tries to call it on his “White House Blog.”

Why? Because it is completely, 100% unconstitutional for the federal government to create a health care system for the American people. Seriously.

No really, read it.

Article 1 Section 8 is where the constitution lists Congress’ powers. There are 17. None of which include health care. Just so you know. So, the job of healthcare regulation must be given somewhere else, right??

How do we know this? The 9th and especially the 10th Amendments… Any powers not given to congress are expressly given to the states. Period.

Now for all my lawyer friends who are at all savvy with how the law/courts interact with the constitution, you’ve probably already figured out the argument that one might use when defending a federally mandated health care system…this, however, would actually require you to read the constitution…

Oh there it is, the second “enumerated” power – more commonly known as “the commerce clause.” The idea behind the “commerce clause” argument is that because one of the powers of congress is to regulate commerce between the states, government has the right to create Obamacare… They would say, “Well, you’re doctor went to school in another state, and the drugs that he prescribed you were manufactured in another state, so, that is inter-state commerce.” However, “regulate” here is not in the sense of “create a bunch of rules for them to abide by”, it is meant to “make regular” or to ensure states aren’t preventing inter-state commerce.

So, for any of the congressmen to get any peace at their “town hall” meetings, they must stop debating this/trying to create UK/Canadian/single payer/medicare for everyone/Obamacare - simply for the reason it is unconstitutional.

(Let me take a moment to point something out: No one in congress has made this argument. No one in congress is trying to argue that this is constitutional. What does this tell us? Psst. They don’t care if it’s constitutional. They aren’t even trying to pretend that it is. As they say in the movies – this is the time to panic.)

Good news, though, the commerce clause is actually the second step to solve the problem. Congress is supposed to regulate the trade between states and ensure that commerce can move between states.

Now, what form of commerce, that has to do with health care, currently cannot freely move/compete between states?

Anyone?

Insurance.

Yep, that’s right. States have been shutting out some insurance companies and been giving preferential treatment to others. This does not promote good commerce or competition in the insurance market that operates between the states.

So, what congress SHOULD be doing to solve at least part of the health care problem is going after the states who have shut off insurance providers for the purpose of giving preferential treatment to others that operate within the state. THAT is what congress is supposed to do under the commerce clause.

Will this solve all the problems of the healthcare system? No. Will it solve all the problems of the insurance system? No. But I am resolved that this is a large portion of the solution. Good competition promotes better business. (Please, don’t try the ignorant argument that that is all the government is trying to create – competition. It’s not. Government doesn’t allow for competition for long, it regulates any competition out of the market.)

Allowing competition to move freely will not create a perfect, moral insurance market. However, it will allow moral insurance companies the opportunity to compete in the market on a more level playing field.

So, the next time you get the sniffles, or wake up with your lungs burning, and you can get treated for it within the same 24 hour period whether with over-the-counter drugs or by prescriptions, just thank God your not living in Barack Hussein Obama’s ‘changed’ world. Then write your congressmen (and maybe a few others) and express your gratitude for their courage to stand against the President and his insane, fatal policies.

Grace and peace,
-Meredith