Someone once said that the most terrifying words in the English language were, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.”  Sure, the government of these United States has many great intentions.  But do we really want to have government sponsored health care that purportedly will still leave people uninsured?  Have we stopped to ask these important questions?

• Will our taxes go up as a result of this health care plan?
• Will each taxpayer be forced to pay into this plan, even if they have private coverage?  Say that isn’t possible, just ask somebody who sends their children to private school if they can stop paying their school taxes.
• Will this government sponsored health care plan force private insurers to follow the same health guidelines the government plan does?
• Do we really trust the United States government to manage a large program like this in an efficient manner, given their track record of spending more than they make in tax revenue?  Not to mention their penchant for moving some items off budget and calling the budget balanced, or claiming to run a surplus.  I’m guessing there are lots of folks that would love to move a mortgage or car loan off budget.  But individuals cannot do that.  Corporations should not be allowed to do it, and neither should the government.

I gather you’ve figured out where I stand on this issue.  Government health care is a prescription for higher taxes, not to mention wasteful government overspending, creating medicine that is worse than the illness it is trying to heal.

The best solution is to let individuals control their own health care.  Provide for generous Health Savings Accounts.  Make health insurance just that– insurance.  Remember it isn’t really insurance if it covers routine care.  Doubt that’s true, try to get your automobile insurance company to pay for a routine oil change.  Auto insurance is designed to cover the unwanted expense of an accident that you were hoping to avoid.  You pay a premium to the insurance company, yet you hope to never have to file a claim.  So it is that health insurance should be there to cover the unexpected, and unwanted MAJOR Medical expense.  You know the ones the government cites among the reasons why they need to take over?  Where people are forced into bankruptcy because of out of control medical expenses.  Those!

My plan is simple really.  We should allow young, and most likely healthy individuals to contribute funds to a health savings account that grows based on their willingness to accept risk, much like an IRA or a 401(k) would.  Then protect this account from being depleted by paying a premium for MAJOR medical insurance that pays in the event that a major unexpected condition is discovered, such as cancer.

At some point this healthy individual might decide that the illness has to pass an even higher level for them to consider it major, thereby reducing the premium payment for their MAJOR medical policy, and allowing them to save even more money in their health savings account.

By putting patients in control of their health care spending, doctors’ staff could spend less time filing and managing insurance claims, and more time making sure that you are not kept waiting in the doctor’s waiting room.  My plan would also create less of an incentive for the most expensive health care in the United States– called the emergency room.  Under my plan the emergency room would return to the place people go in an emergency, not the place they go as a first response.

The current government medicine is worse than the illness it is attempting to cure.  My plan requires common sense, and deals in reality.  My medicine is prudent, the illness would be cured.  But we seem to have lost the voice of prudence to the din of fear, uncertainty and doubt promulgated by the very government that claims to want to help.