http://www.huffingtonpost.com/douglas-kmiec/is-obamacare-less-what-if_b_4285150.html
most interesting snip.
Since this article is posted on Huffington Post it will be interesting to read the left wingnuts defend their support for a GOVERNMENT provided healthcare system. No comments yet. :wink:
most interesting snip.
1. Skip the insurance company's altogether and implement fee for service provided directly by the federal government; this is where a good number of Democrats wanted to be in the first place and whether or not this is a good alternative depends upon whether you've had good or bad experiences with public service providers.
Almost everyone at this point will mention the Department of Motor Vehicles, but since I want to keep driving, I won't. I will mention that I served as US ambassador for several years which was both a challenge and a genuine honor, and my grousing now about insurance inconveniences takes nothing away from that assessment.
Curiously, given the present discussion, the federal employee program (FEP) (upon which Obamacare was modeled in terms of coverage) neglected in error to extend insurance coverage to me for the first six months of my foreign assignment. Luckily, no one in my family, including myself was ill during that period of time. Yet, what next occurred is what gives people hesitation about turning their health needs over to the government. When the FEP discovered that it had not charged me for the insurance that I had not used, which it had not actually provided, but which it claimed it would have provided if I had needed it, sent me a bill for what I had no occasion to use, didn't use, and to this day I am not certain I could have actually used, rather than receiving more likely letter from a government lawyer that I was not properly covered as my hypothetical claim was denied.
Why would I hypothesize such a letter denying coverage? Because in fact something very close to that has now occurred. It seems the FEP has difficulty both enrolling people on time and dis- enrolling them on time. After completing the construction of a new embassy compound, organizing and directing the rescue of hundreds of American citizens from Tripoli,, and negotiating several successful treaties and agreements with the Republic of Malta over Iranian trade sanctions, and avoidance of double taxation treaty, and other protections against the misuse of financial instruments to hide income offshore, I retired and returned to the states. Notwithstanding my formal notice of retirement and withdrawal from the FEP, the FEP continued to pay for my prescriptions and medical care for the next 2 ½ years. Generous? Actually disadvantageous both because the FEP has now billed me $5000 roughly for the expenditures that but for their interference would've been covered by my own insurance company that sees them is a bit out of time and it's not clear how much they if anything, will be reimbursed.
Bottom line: my intersection with federally supported and provided healthcare left me without coverage but charged for it and unwanted coverage but charged for it again. I realize this is a single anecdote but sometimes it doesn't take the house to fall numerous times to get out of the way. Moreover, while the voices on the other end of the phone in my case has have been pleasant enough, each letter is, unsigned, and the administrative burdens of seeking to work this out have not been facilitated in the least by the size of the organization.
When healthcare is the subject, care is the verb that we are most anxious to see affirmed. Is there a structural arrangement that could substitute for Obamacare should the repairs necessary to save the reform prove insufficient?
Since this article is posted on Huffington Post it will be interesting to read the left wingnuts defend their support for a GOVERNMENT provided healthcare system. No comments yet. :wink: