Healthcare talk

Any day now the U S Supreme Court will hand down their decision declaring all or parts of "Obamacare" to be unconstitutional or allowing it to stand as-is.  Regardless of the ruling, about 1/2 of the people are going to be unhappy.  Me?....I'm somewhere right in the middle.  I don't think the system we have now is working well enough to remain unchallenged, but I don't have an alternative to offer, either.  If you don't have insurance or can't get it, you know how dire the situation is.  If you're one of the lucky few who have insurance AND deep enough pockets that would enable you to absorb any after-insurance expenses, you obviously don't see the problem, but you should never forget.....things can change in a hurry.  


I have a friend who at age 61 had double-bypass surgery.  He had insurance and could easily handle the co-pay, but the next year he was laid off his upper management job of 25+ years, with his termination package giving him just one more year of company insurance after that.  (His deep suspicion was his company wanted him gone due to his health liability.)  With his medical and family history he couldn't buy health insurance on the open market.  He bought into a state "last-resort" policy, but that soon proved unaffordable so he went "naked" until Medicare kicked in at age 65.  Every ache and pain sent him into panic mode.  He never thought he'd find himself in that position.


On the other hand I don't have confidence in our government to manage much of anything efficiently.  The Obamacare bill is...what...2,700 pages long?  Can anyone really, REALLY understand it?  I know the UK, Canada, Australia, and some others have universal government-run programs that seem to have a lot of good points, but they also have some well-documented problems, too, such as the fact they're breaking the bank. 


Then there's the matter of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act of 1986.  This law requires almost all hospitals to treat anyone walking in seeking medical attention.  It was meant to cover true emergencies, but now is being used to treat colds, the flu, etc.  Hospitals and doctors have billions of dollars in un-collectable write-offs.  Did you know that >60% of bankruptcies are due to medical bills people can't pay?  And that 78% of those are by people who had insurance but couldn't pay for all those things not covered by their insurance?  And besides the obvious hit to doctors and hospitals, bankruptcy is a drain on our economy in a bigger sense, too.  Those who have gone through it find it difficult or impossible to buy a house, a car....pretty much anything that requires credit.  These are potential big-ticket consumers who will NOT be helping grow our economy.


Just some thoughts for you to consider.  IMO, regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, SOMETHING needs to be done about healthcare in America.  I wish there was a simple answer.


S