Governmental health insurance is fantastic compared to what the rest of us face in the health insurance market. Go to your state or local government or even the federal government websites to confirm this. This is the biggest barrier that Americans face to health insurance reform, our representatives do not face the same challenges we do regarding health insurance. Read through government benefits programs and their cost and imagine the stress-free experience of "benefits season" if those were one of your choices!
Having said this, I dismiss the Republican "health care" proposals because there has never been and certainly today less than ever is there a free market in the insurance industry. It is a highly regulated industry that under George Bush has had its authority and reach expanded so that those who have had to trade health insurance for the former choice of those who were young or rich, the health savings account idea, can now go to the Bank of Blue Cross and Blue Shield to deposit their meager pre-tax dollars. The only free market forces at work is the conning of the American people into believing that the billions spent on lobbying for legislation expanding the powers of insurance companies doesn't exist. Insurance companies are enabled by government and by saying we are against legislative mandates that actually govern them is an old bumper sticker we can no longer afford.
I support Obama's acknowledgement of middle class woes and I support the creation of the option for all Americans to have access to the same health insurance available to government employees. In order to be a real promise, however, I need to hear something I haven't heard which is that we'll have this option at the same cost as such coverage comes to government employees. It is the price tag that worries me. This worry comes from our old friend COBRA, the "option" to continue benefits after yo separate from service from a company that formerly provided you with health insurance. Our 23 year old is now "eligible" for COBRA. Problem is that a healthy 23 year old male cannot get his former insurance for under $600.00 a month. For a 23 year old? In other words, COBRA has often become an option that is a fallacy because of its cost. So, we have two choices: Do away with government entitlements for governmental workers in the form of health insurance that is not in the "free" market place or provide ordinary citizens with the governmental health insurance option AT THE GOVERNMENTAL HEALTH INSURANCE PRICE TAG.
