Replace pure fascism with a bit of social safety net

In the political extremes, right and left, the Fascist seems opposite the Socialist, and the National Socialist (Nazi) is opposite the Communist.  I know that is over simplified, and if the nuances of each system are examined carefully, the final outcome of any one of the four is satisfactory, so long as the power each grants is not misused. 

In the Fascist system, so long as the corporate power is benign, every thing works well.  The trains run on time, but the passengers are late.  In a Socialist system, so long as the government is benign, things work well.  The trains are late and the passengers are on time.  That’s the real reason I like Socialism.  Everyone gets on the train, even the people who show up after the scheduled departure time.  If I were obsessively punctual I would be a Fascist.  Waiting for those slovenly lazy do nothing liberals would piss me off no end.

America’s medical insurance system is clearly Fascist.  It is the very definition of Fascism.  Health insurance has nothing to do with productivity, hours of work, pay per unit produced or any of the other measures of what provides profitability for a corporation.  Most medical insurance policies are provided not by the employee, but the employer.  The boss holds your medical security in HIS hands, and you are at his mercy.  That is Fascism for sure.

Medical Insurance is a product.  As such it is not proper compensation for gainful employment.  That is equivalent to being paid with rations, clothing and shelter.  The Farmer pays for the Veterinarian because the farmer OWNS the horse.  If the company pays for your doctor it means the company OWNS you.   If you are fine with that, medical insurance as compensation for work is your choice.  

If you value liberty above temporary safety, and you should, you will reject company insurance in favor of the money it costs your boss.  Do that, and you can change jobs any time it is necessary without losing insurance coverage for as much as a micro second, assuming of course that you use the money the boss pays you to buy the policy.   You can even get sick, lose your job for absenteeism, and still have insurance.  You do have to continue paying your premiums.  Cobra laws are supposed to cover that contingency, but if you do lose and then find work, the new company is going to replace the old insurance, and you just started over.  OH, I forgot, when you lose your job, the company stops paying you. 

So, if you value security, and will surrender a little liberty to get it, stick with the Fascist.  But, what do you do when he STOPS paying for your medical insurance, and does not START paying you enough to buy your own?  Or worse, what happens, as often does, you work only part time, or have two jobs, one for the insurance, and a part time job to pay for the fun things.

A frustrated man I know wanted a good fishing boat, took on a part time job to pay for it.  He bought a very nice boat on credit.  By the time he could retire from  the part time job and go fishing he had lost interest in fishing.  So, he sold the boat. It had been in the water for eight hours in it’s five years of life.  Just long enough to foul the carburetors on the outboard. The boat  sat so long it would not start.  The loss was extreme. 

The point of that otherwise pointless story is this.  Living life requires time to live it as well as enough money to pay the costs.  Medical insurance is no fun at all, but it’s a necessity for those inevitable times when the doctor needs to be consulted, and the medication needs to be taken.  So, you can depend on your boss, Fascism, or you can depend on government Socialism.  Or you can pay your own way, INDEPENDENCE. 

As I read the legislation, and hear the debate, I find three common threads.  One, employer provided medical insurance at employer or shared expense.  Two, individual purchase under an exchange for those who need independence.   Those who are self employed professionals, small contractors, people who work for small contractors, and those who work at jobs that do not offer company medical insurance.  Then the third option.  The liberal Democrats, in their foolhardy efforts to give the government the power of life and death over everyone, what to provide a Public Option.  A plan that anyone can buy into with premiums based on economic means, that would provide good coverage to the people who would otherwise have to take on part time jobs to go with their full time jobs to pay for their medical insurance. 

This is what I hear from President Obama and the Democrats who support his plan.  A mix of options. 

Employer provided, if you can get it, and want to give your employer that kind of power.  And what most of us have today. 

Individually provided, with a couple of provisions to guarantee it is available and affordable. For those who are willing to pay a private company for coverage, and have the price.

And the public option for the population that is otherwise unable to get insurance, or wants to have a really secure medical insurance plan.  This last option is being heavily attacked.  It is, according to many, a thinly veiled strategy to take over all medical insurance.  It may be that, one thing is for sure the public option would insure the working poor. 

I have a problem with the major argument against the public option.  It will not be mandatory except as a last resort.  If you do not take a private policy out, you will be put in the public option pool and pay a premium. BUT the argument is that it will replace all private insurance in short order. 

Why would it do that?  It is not intended to replace all private medical insurance.   It is intended to insure only the uninsured, and the premiums will means tested.  There is an upper limit, probably about the same as a good medical policy costs now, and there is government subsidy for people in a low income range to be determined and adjusted according to the poverty rate.  So, if you make 50 grand a year, and have a family of four, you would pay a premium equal to equivalent Individual Insurance.  If the same family is making 25 thousand, the premium would be half the full premium.  I do not think that is going to close down many insurance companies.  It will make them work hard at keeping costs to a minimum so they can profit at the government premium rate, and if the government decides to cheat, and cut premiums below a break even point, the insurers would have a legitimate gripe.  But till they face that consequence they do not have that gripe. 

We need to pass a reform bill.  Virtually everyone agrees to that.  We need to provide medical insurance to the working poor, temporarily unemployed, and the debilitated.  We need to get moving on this issue, and the President’s offer to compromise should not mean kill the Public Option, It should mean make the Public Option work so consumers and providers of both medical insurance and medicine benefit.  And so they prosper from their good works. And all the plans need to be sustainable.