OpEd:
The Secret Way To Achieve True Healthcare Reform
October 19, 2009 by Kyle BradyTags: America, Congress, Healthcare, Insurance, Politics, Social Security
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics
There’s been much debate, blathering, and false outrage by Congressmen over the issue of healthcare reform, most especially for the concept of a public option. The insurance industries have exerted extreme control over those campaigns that they helped finance, and true healthcare reform is fast approaching the point of no return, where a bill is passed that will either be irrelevant or do more harm than good. But there’s a way, a secret way, to achieve the kind of healthcare reform that the overwhelming majority of the country wants, including a public option: force all of those in Congress to relinquish their federally funded healthcare, and join the ranks of America.
The livelihood of Congressmen is largely separate from the majority of America, let alone the average, thanks to their large, built-in salaries (officially $165,200/yr), their own pension plan through the FERS, and a sometimes-free healthcare system through FEHBR. Congress has not been overly concerned with fixing the broken Social Security system that’s predicted to fail some time near 2016, because they are not effected by it – the FERS is an entirely different system with a separate set of rules that is not in danger of failing. Given the inaction on Social Security, should it be any surprise that their fundamental lack of understanding of the modern healthcare system is due to being outside of it?
Besides the influence of the insurance cartel, astute Congressmen have had to study hard to grasp the current healthcare situation in America, despite the ability of an average citizen to easily speak about it for great length. If Congressmen are inside the Capitol, they can receive substantial diagnosis, treatment, lab work, and prescription filling, all free of cost; however, if they’re outside of those illustrious walls, they participate in a federally managed group of insurance providers, which is not subject to the same level of megalomaniac freedom or profiteering so often seen outside the grasp of federal control.
Any reforms that Congress enacts on healthcare - the regulation of insurance industries, forced non-profit status of healthcare companies, public option, or other facets - will not effect their life in any noticeable fashion. If, however, members of Congress were forced to participate in the same insurance scams that the rest of America does, they would very quickly discover that which needs to be desperately rectified, and would likely pass definitive and progressive legislation within a short period of time without any further or inane squabbling.
This preeminent solution has been proposed for Social Security, for the same principle reasons and with similar predicted outcomes, and there is no valid reason why it cannot serve as a similar point for healthcare reform. Until the members of Congress are more akin to the average American citizen, legislation will continue to be slanted in favor of powerful corporate interests and those with extreme quantities of money, which was most definitively not the intention of the Founding Fathers. Perhaps a forced Congressional joining of Social Security and common insurance, along with paycuts and campaign finance reform, could produce a Congress that is more representative of the nation.
After all, Congress’ sole purpose is to emulate, protect, and act in favor of their constituents – the People of the United States of America.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.
