Americans are bombarded with the notion of a nationalized health care system. The media touts catch phrases like "Health Care for all Americans" and "No Child without Health Care Coverage." These catch phrases might lead Americans to view this as free health care. What they don't know is what it really means: higher taxes, longer waiting periods, fewer doctors and cutting treatment corners.
Americans pay 22 percent of their income in taxes, while their counterparts in Europe pay 42 percent of their income in taxes. The difference is to fund the nationalized health care. It helps to think of it as a preferred provider system of health care. Doctors who don't subscribe to the system are not available to the general public. So, your level of health care will be drawn from a much smaller pool.
Additionally, since there are fewer doctors that buy into the system, the waiting period grows. Need a hip replacement? It could take 18 months to schedule your surgery. Patients are herded through the doctor's office like cattle. The more patients they see, the more they collect.
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But what happens when the cost of treatment is elevated, the demand for care increases, and the tax dollars dry up? Doctors and hospitals cut corners. To save money, they stop updating equipment, let supplies diminish, or do away with private or semi-private rooms and revert to a ward-type system where you share space with five other patients.
So, what happens to the insurance industry? Actuaries, sharpen your pencils; if we go to a nationalized health care system, an entirely new industry emerges. Lines of products will sprout up that pay in addition to your nationalized benefits. The only way to improve the type of health care you receive is to pay for it.
Only the wealthy will be able to afford true private health insurance, so it's only an answer for 10 percent of Americans today. Nationalized health care could mean the end to major medical insurance as we know it. Private insurance will get you the best doctors and hospitals with all the latest equipment and treatments, but because you are getting the best, you will have to pay for it. Also, private insurance will be costly and this will widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
An NHCS won't cover:
- Life Insurance — NHCS doesn't cover the cost of final expenses.
- Disability — NHCS doesn't make the car or house payment if you are unable to work.
- Legal — NHCS will not go to court to help you appeal a traffic ticket.
- Vision and Hearing Care — Deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket costs.
I believe there is a happy medium. Get better health care through supplemental insurance plans that pay for the extras:
- Limited benefit plans that cover the extra cost of doctor's office visits, X-rays, lab-work and hospital confinement.
- Cancer and specified disease products that cover the extra costs associated with chemotherapy, radiation therapy, heart attacks, strokes and major organ transplants.
- Accident insurance that covers broken bones, stitches, X-rays and loss of limbs. Dental that covers more than extractions and fillings.
- Vision that covers the cost of bifocals and extra costs for cataract surgery. Long-term care insurance that pays in addition to the government plan so you don't have to go into a federal long-term care facility.
Supplemental coverage will play a continuous role as a valued added perk in hiring and retaining good employees.
Down the road, look for more competition. Look for major health care carriers to get into or team up with supplemental markets. Look for possible standardization of the supplemental health plans, much like we have now with Medicare supplements.
A nationalized health care will not mean the death of the insurance industry, but a reorganization of how we think about and sell insurance. To receive better health care, we must be willing to pay the extra cost. To cover the extra cost, we must have supplemental insurance coverage. I see this as the only way we'll survive a nationalized health care system.
- By Chuck Sharp
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