The Three Story Christmas Tree

Do we have the Kaunas's to fix health care? What with more personal bankruptcy's caused by it and fifty million folks only using the emergency room, you would think rational people could see that the time has come to get off our collective asses and come to the table. For sure, health care costs played a large part in the demise of General Motors and Chrysler. Last winter I had to visit a friend who was in a local hospital, William Beaumont in Royal Oak, MI. It was during the time of the year when all the auto plants raise money for charity by placing small angels on a Christmas tree with the names of local families who need help during the holidays. Employees or groups of employees take angels from the tree and fulfill the wish written on the angel. Most of these kids ask for clothes or items for school. Well low and behold when I walled into the lobby of William Beaumont I was absolutely blown away by the three-story, fully decorated, lighted tree. It made the auto company's tree look skinny by comparison. I could clearly see where the money had gone . . . from manufacturing to medicine. Ever since the Reagan Administration we have been off-loading good paying manufacturing jobs like sixty going north. All the while, many of the jobs that have replaced those benefit paying endeavors have been jobs that pay less (see service sector) and don't offer the same level of of health benefits . . . if they offer any at all. Also, these jobs pay less in taxes, including taxes for Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. So, let's add this up, less taxes coming in, fewer employers offering health care and exploding health care costs. Hey! Some body's got to flip for that three story Christmas Tree. You can see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel is our health care system headed for a reality wreak. But who's to blame you say? Well let's see . . .if you have a company that: whenever costs go up they can just raise their insurance rates, what do you predict will happen? Will costs ever go down? Will there ever be any belt tightening? Believe me, I know about belt tightening . . .it sucks! No! Rates will go up, hit a plateau, especially when people complain a little and then continue to climb to the stratosphere and beyond. But the medical insurance companies can't get past those pesky manufacturing jobs, you know the ones that paid all the premiums but are now in China. Premiums going up, ability to pay premiums going down . . .can you say crash and burn? Until recently, many people in the health care industry believed that manufacturing workers were the great unwashed society that was over paid and received too many benefits. They are just now beginning to understand that hard working autoworkers and unionized employees are one leg of the stool on which their fat asses sit. We can get through this thing together but some stuff has to change. To all health care professionals I would pose these questions. What kind of car do you drive? Do you remember those Delphi employees getting their wages and benefits cut in half? Were you present when General Motors whacked the health care of all their salaried employees? Do you know that my mom, who is eighty seven, has just started paying for her own Medicaid Part B premiums? And now the big question. Did you believe that after all these events took place that you would simply zip away in you BMW unscathed? President Obama has given a wish list of items to congress that he would like to see in new health care legislation. Those items include" a public option, much like we all have available after the age of 62. Another item is to cover every American citizen. Well duh! Those two items have caused some to scream socialism and worse. Well, let me ask these folks, are we not already socialist? Just look at how we operate our Police and Fire Departments. We all pool our money (taxes) and whoever needs a policeman or fireman can call one. Sounds like socialism to me. Why can't health care work the same way? The same reason that other things don't change I would imagine . . .somebody is getting rich. Perhaps the real answer to this problem is to get all the health care money out of our political system. Millions of dollars are donated every year to a multitude of political campaigns. This makes the debate not just hard but impossible. Perhaps the health care professionals need to reel in their costs like the rest of us. And finally, we need some tax money from the upper crust in society to help pay for a new health care system. The can afford it. They have been livin' the high life for years while middle class retirees choose between food and medicine. I hope Barack has the horsepower to make a new health care plan happen. It has been a long time coming and there are still more hurdles to clear. We all need to get behind our president's ideas for health care. Quality health care should be a right for all Americans, not just something for the richest among us. Heck with a little luck the Big Three might even be able to afford a bigger Angel Tree next Christmas. Thanks for listening . . .Tony