“Just Don’t Get Sick,” Ellis Henican Column, am/New York, July 17, 2009
There’s a perfect solution to America’s crisis in health care. It’s as apt for today’s insurance-choked system as it will be if Obama-care ever becomes law.
Don’t get sick.
I promise: If you never get sick, you’ll be all right.
As for the rest of us? Well, don’t expect a health care panacea no matter what Congress does — especially for those of us in the vast middle zone of the U.S. economy.
If you’re really, really poor, you qualify for Medicaid. It’s not perfect, but the price is right. If you’re really, really rich, what do you care? But for people in the middle, the options going forward range from bad to worse to won’t-happen-anyway.
I’ve been riveted all week at the spectacle of congressmen and senators confronting the complexities of health care. The only thing I can say with confidence is that I want the health care they get — top doctors and hospitals, immediately available, paid for by the government. If this is socialism, where do I sign up?
But when it comes to legislating for the rest of us, Washington is caught this week in a morass of paranoid stories, angry threats, greedy lobbyists and 1,000-page proposals no one dares to read. We are asked to choose between Republicans who want to give us nothing and Democrats who think we should pay for everything.
All I know is I can’t pay for too much more.
My wife and I — healthy adults who rarely go to the doctor — spend $950 a month for a policy with sky-high deductibles and stingy reimbursement rates.
We do have a prescription-drug card. Lucky us. But the last time I used it, for a very minor drug, the $30 medication came with a $25 co-pay.
Gee, thanks for the five.
No one can defend the system as it is. We spend more than any other country and get worse results than any of our peers. We ration care not by government fiat but by insurance-company denials. We have a wide array of choices we can’t afford to exercise.
But don’t worry. Just stay healthy. We’ll all be fine.
E-mail ellis@henican.com. Follow at twitter.com/Henican.