Why Health Care Reform Was Neccessary

OK, I'm not entirely happy with the recently passed health care reform bill.

Not because it did too much, went too far, costs too much or represents a socialistic intrusion of "big government" into to the personal lives of American citizens.

I'm disappointed because it doesn't go far enough. I'm disappointed because it doesn't provide a single payer, single provider solution that covers 100% of Americans for everything just because they are lucky enough to be Americans.

As for the intrusion of "big government" argument, the conservative talking points make me sick.

Conservatives have ALWAYS favored Big Government when it comes to controlling who can do what with who in the privacy of their own bedrooms, who can marry who, what individuals can read or watch in their homes, how much control they have over their own bodies and biological processes, what naturally occurring substances they can ingest, or whether they should be free of the intrusion of religion into their lives.

In all of these instances, conservatives cannot get enough Big Government to satisfy them.

It's only when it comes to how much money business people can take out of your wallet that they want to waive off "Big Government". They don't want any government regulation over rampant greed.

Let's look at the basic business model of private insurance.

I'm Xavier's Insurance Company.

Here is how I make money.

You give me a large amount of money every month in exchange for the promise that if you ever need any of that money back to cover health care expenses, I'll cover your costs.

This business model only works for me if I never have to deliver on my promise!

So if you have a pre-existing condition that sets off a red flag that I MIGHT have to actually deliver on my promise, I'm not going to cover you. It's not worth the risk to my bottom line.

If you start making claims that force me to deliver on my promise, at the very least I'm going to have to raise your rates to maintain my profit margin. Because me increasing my wealth trumps your expectation that I will keep my promises.

If the claims continue unabated, I will just drop you from coverage because you are costing me too much money. Better you should get sick and die than I should see a dip in my quarterly returns.

That's fucked up. That's what needed to change. This health care reform bill changes some of that. But not enough.

You cannot convince me that we can lay claim to the "Greatest Country In The World" banner when we have no problem magically conjuring over $700 billion dollars to kill Iraqis and over $250 billion dollars to kill Afghans, but turn around and claim can't come up with enough money to cover every American citizen's basic health care costs.

Conservatives have their panties in a twist that their tax dollars may be spent to pay for abortions.

Well, guess what? I have a REAL FUCKING PROBLEM that MY tax dollars are paying for what I consider to be unjustified wars of choice and aggression half a world away!

I say we provide a detailed federal budget checklist with every tax return and census form. Let's all put a check mark in the box next to the shit we are willing to pay for. No check mark, no money.

Now that's democracy.

Health Care Reform In A Nutshell

Not dying shouldn't be a function of how rich you can make someone else.

In a civilized society, everyone should have equal and affordable access to the most advanced health care available.

Anything less is cruel and barbaric.

It's that simple.

Health Care Reform You Can Believe In!

One word.

HIPAA.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.

"The Office for Civil Rights enforces the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information, and the confidentiality provisions of the Patient Safety Rule, which protect identifiable information being used to analyze patient safety events and improve patient safety."

Don't get me wrong. I don't have any problem with the policy itself. I think it was good legislation.

What I have a problem with is being required to sign a fucking HIPAA form every time I visit my doctor or pick up a prescription!

I'm almost 54 years old (birthday is September 16th...shop early, shop often!), I could wallpaper a Rodeo Drive mansion with the HIPAA forms I've had to sign in the past 13 years!

You want to reform health care? Want to reduce paper work? Want to streamline the process? Reduce financial costs and environmental impacts?

CREATE A FUCKING SPREADSHEET!

Here is how my RADICAL, LIBERAL, SOCIALIST PLAN would work.

I visit my doctor and I sign a HIPAA form.

My name, date of birth, SSN, is sent via a secure IP connection to The Office for Civil Rights. They log the information and send me a wallet sized card with a hologram, a mag stripe and a bar code saying I am now exempt from ever having to sign another fucking HIPAA form!

This is not rocket science. It's a fucking Excel spreadsheet. First Name. Middle Name. Last Name. Date of Birth. SSN. Five fucking columns. Log it, print it, send me a card, we're done.

Why is this so difficult?