The Health Care Debate Continues

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Fox News host Bill O'Reilly was a guest on Good Morning America. He doesn't believe Republicans and Democrats will be able to drop the politics in an effort to get Health Care Reformed passed. Watch the video at http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/

Today President Obama is holding a Bipartisan Health Care Summit at Blair House. I watched a small portion of it and decided to catch up on it later. I can tell you that the Republicans are wanting to start over from scratch and the Democrats didn't seem to be waivering much. Colin Powell expressed his views on Sundays Face the Nation. You can watch that video on NCTRUNEWS portal at www.xtagged.com.

President Obama did open up the Health Care Summit with the following statement: "I hope that this isn't just political theater, where we're just playing to the cameras and criticizing each other, but instead are actually trying to solve the problem," Obama said to the Republicans and Democrats assembled in the Garden Room of Blair House in Washington. "That's what the American people are looking for."

When it comes to healthcare reform, is something better than nothing? Should healthcare be removed from the President’s agenda in Year 2010? Try telling that to Americans without healthcare. With rising unemployment, increased deficits, and the sharp rise in healthcare premiums, what are our choices and can we live with them?

Two years ago, I obtained a life and health license to sell insurance in the State of North Carolina. I can tell you that I met with clients of various income and social status and health care does not discriminate. I wasn’t successful in that venture because most of my clients either could not afford the premium or they had pre-existing conditions. Many that could afford health insurance were shocked when I told them that they could not qualify because of a pre-existing condition that was covered by their former employer. Most notable were type-2 diabetic, cancer, obesity, or heart problems. Most insurance companies do cover high blood pressure if it is controlled; however, most companies will rate you up 20 percent. I found that some of the insurance agents were so desperate that they were willing to sell their client some inferior product in order to meet their weekly quota.

I, for one, do not understand why a health care bill has to be so complicated and more lengthy than the most important document of our land namely the U.S. Constitution. I thought that the U.S. Government had decided in the early eighties to keep their documents simple. What’s wrong with writing a simple bill that everyone can read that simply says:

1. Insurance companies will cover all pre-existing conditions. If there are exceptions that might dictate a higher premium that would drastically increase costs, why not list those conditions and put a ceiling on the premium increase.

2. Currently, children are kicked off of their parent’s insurance at the age of 18 unless they are in college. In that case, they can stay on the parent’s policy until the age of 21. Why not let them stay on their parent's insurance until age 26. That’s simple enough.

I could go on; however, I think you get the point. I admit that I don’t have all of the answers; I just don’t think that healthcare reform has to be that complicated and I definitely don't want any pork attached to it. Americans are unhealthy enough already. Let me hear from you.

Ms. NCTrunews