Issue 194 Health and Reparations October 29, 2013

Obama care has flopped on its opening day. It provides health care which is twice as expensive as many private plans. Not to mention, it cost over 600 billion dollars alone for the first year with it estimated to rise to one trillion dollars in cost within 10 years. Is there a better way to spend that 600 billion? Well, yes there is. By giving it back to the American people.

The idea: Instead of spending 600 billion dollars on 300 million people, why not just give everyone a health savings account. But not just any health savings account. Take the 600 billion and divide it up between each American citizen. With about 300 million U.S. citizens that means over 2 billion dollars approximately given to each individual American. This money could be used to buy any health care related purchase, including over the counter drugs, vitamins and even health insurance. Of course it would be restricted to health care purchases only to prevent the money from being abused. Not to mention, the money itself would not just be used for the individual alone. It would be used for the family member in charge, there children, their grand children and so on as long as the money holds out. At the same time, the money would act as reparations toward African Americans who had been enslaved or faced discrimination, along with reparations to the Spanish, Native Americans and all ethnic and racial groups that have suffered throughout U.S. history. Basically, pay them back by making it so that they never have to worry about health care for generations to come, especially as most people do not exceed a million dollars worth of health care related costs in their life time.

How it would work: It would work in the same manner as an electronic food stamp card. The card would automatically pay for anything related to health care at the register. So when you pay at the doctors’ office, use the card. At the pharmacy, use the card. If in the super market buying Tylenol, again use the card. But, say you are already a millionaire, then you would not have access to the cards money. Instead, it would act as a safety net for if you or your future family members should ever fall into poverty. Now, the money is shared. So when your mom turns 18, she gets access to the account. But then later she has you, so that when you turn 18 you too will get a card with access to that same account. This allows families to share the costs and eliminates the paperwork of giving newborns access to new billion dollar accounts. Remember, most people never spend more than a million dollars on health care in their life, so a billion dollars lasts an extremely long time. Also, the money in this account may be inheritable. So say you die, but have no next of kin, you can pass the money on to someone of your choosing. Also, say you did not leave a last will in testament, and have no next of kin. At this point the money is taken by the government and passes it onto everyone equally. So everyone gets the leftovers.

It’s also reparations: Yes that is right. Everyone who has entered this country has faced some form of racial, ethnic or religious discrimination at one time or another. As such, we currently provide programs like affirmative action to many ethnic groups and free health care to Native Americans on reservations. But, these programs have there costs and limits. By providing everyone with health care in this way, the government will not have to spend any money to help the sick for well over one hundred years. What better gift to give those who have suffered than the equivalent to free health care for them, their children and even their great great great grandchildren.

Benefits: This basically makes government programs like Medicaid redundant. It eliminates the need for financial assistance for the disabled, for seniors, and any other form of medical based assistance. Companies would be able to drop health coverage without fear of making their workers bankrupt due to medical bills. Heck, even the idea of a single payer system becomes redundant, as if needed, after the money runs out another 600 or more billion can be raised to provide health care to all. So why spend 600 plus billion a year when you can just spend it once. Also, those who see the opportunity to extend the life of their money can still buy health insurance to make it last even longer. On top of this, as more people will be able to pay for treatments out of pocket, cost will go down as there will be no need for insurance or government to act as the middle man to pay for the medication or treatments. No longer will the most expensive of treatments be out of reach.

Conclusion: You get the idea. Spending all that money on such a small population of people is ridiculous. In fact, the websites for Obama care cost well above 600 million. That money alone, given to us would be sufficient for many seniors health care needs. So it really does not make sense to spend all that money until you realize that most of that money is not about us, but about the government workers, and compliance costs with the laws. So what’s better, pay once to give the nation health care for about 100 years, or spend up wards of 600 billion to 1 trillion dollars every single year? I think this choice is simple.