On Establishing a Universal Health Care Program

On Establishing a Universal Health Care Program

            Simply stated, I have a little idea I would like to share concerning using the proceeds generated by the “Hemp Tax” to guarantee full Health Care coverage to every U.S. Citizen.  I know, that was a big statement and now that it has been made, I need to back it up.  I am prepared to but I must first beg you to remember that 25% of all funds from the “Hemp Tax”, that amount growing each year, will be available to support this.  I am of the mind that such a large pool, established and managed properly, has the potential to do just that.  By using a system of personal accounts, managed by the Consumers themselves and consisting of credit that may be accessed only for medical procedures, from preventative, necessary to elective, we have a means to solve this issue without loss to any individual.  Being that this would be paid for exclusively by “Hemp Tax” funds, a levy on a potentially massive industry that has not yet been allowed to exist, places no extra burden upon anyone.  Instead, every time you fuel your car you are fueling your Health Care.  The very commerce of the Nation keeps the funds intact and growing.

            How this would work is that from the total amount dedicated to this fund, each and every Citizen would be given an account from which they can access as needed.  The amounts available should grow over time as Hemp becomes a larger segment of our economy but for an example I’ll be using rather generic amounts to detail.  For purposes of this discussion, each Citizen’s account amount available would be $100,000 per year.  Now I know some out there will scoff at this but there are those of us who wouldn’t even use 5% of that each year and, well, being this plan is Cannabis inspired, we’ll share.  In other words, a very large portion of this society would barely touch their accounts while others, those suffering extreme or long term illnesses, have medical costs considerably more.  Therefore, without penalizing anyone and with everyone still guaranteed their full amount if needed, those whose expenses exceed their initial account amounts will still be fully covered through the combined strength of around 300 million other accounts.

            As to how these accounts would work is that each year they would reset at their top amounts.  They wouldn’t roll over and they wouldn’t accumulate.  They wouldn’t need to.  Instead, unused excess would be used to assist those with more costly maladies.  That which is still unused after that would go toward making the next years pool just a little bigger.  From there, well, over the course of a decade, this Nation should be able to comfortably cover the entire Health Care costs of all its Citizens.  In twenty years?  In twenty years the United States, with regular preventative treatment and a societal emphasis on healthy living, should no longer have that pouch that’s been developing around our collective middle.

Insofar as ownership of these accounts, Citizens would have full choice in the selection of their medical providers.  In other words, the tired, old fear mongering saw about having to stand in line to see the impersonal physician you were assigned to in a phony-socialist scenario is not valid here.  Here, should you want a simple check up, just make an appointment with your doctor.  If you want to receive treatment at a specific facility, you have that ability.  If there is an elective surgery you desire, set it up at your convenience.  Complete and total ownership of your account is ensured with one exception.  Being that these accounts are designed specifically for use with medical expenses, they will not be available for use as collateral nor could they be borrowed against or tapped for non-medical spending.

As for billing, this is done by the provider or the facility involved.  Herein is where regulation and oversight is needed to ensure that only billable services are billed.  Oversight is also needed to ensure that prices remain competitive and are not artificially raised.  By being a Consumer Choice market, the concept of competitive pricing should be in play.  This should also serve to open up more opportunities in the field of medicine.  In fact, it would almost necessitate such with more and more consumers now able to utilize medical services for such things as regular check ups.

            There is one other issue that really needs to be discussed here and that is the role that the Insurance industry would play in such a scenario.  To start, any industry that is no longer needed has no right to remain in existence, especially by a forced mandate of preferential legislation.  With this or a similar Universal Health Care system in effect, the need for private health insurance will no longer have a viable market.  This is okay.  Why?  Because with all the other areas wherein the Insurance industry claims privilege remaining untouched, their bottom line should not unduly suffer.  Drivers will still be mandated by preferential legislation to carry insurance on their vehicles.  Homeowners will still need homeowners insurance.  There is no moral reason for any industry to, when an alternative exists, make profit through gambling on the health of a populace.  If the Insurance industry wishes, they still have the ability to sell private health insurance which might allow for off-shore services, but with the United States, through its dynamic competitiveness in a market so described above, the need for such shouldn’t be great.

How then to ensure that the blowback and the lobbying from the Insurance industry is not too great so as to sway our elected Public Servants to their desires?  Simple…we let them play as well.  See, most folk might not be too taken with the idea of having to deal with managing their personal accounts.  Sure, quite a few might but for many, such minutiae might prove quite a bother.  I know it would with me, in any form.  Thus I, like ever so many others, would most likely be thankful to an industry that opened its doors to the promise of assisting those who so choose by managing their accounts for them.  In other words, there is a role for the Insurance industry to play in this game and that is as for-hire account managers.  Of all the other things which these companies, either by guile or by forced legislation, offer insurance on, more power to them.