You know, I do not like Michael Moore, but sending him horror stories about our medical insurance problems might just get the bureaucrats to take another look at the “denials” of medical care reimbursements.
I have numerous horror stories about the DOD run Tricare system, (especially as it pertains to retirees living overseas) and have been fighting constantly with their contractor, Wisconsin Physician Services, whose responsibility is to process all overseas tricare claims. Claims are “lost”, reimbursements are denied or only 50% is allowed (unfairly, or because the claims processors use the wrong CPT codes and refuse to admit they made a mistake) and the wait for reimbursement is 6-8 months.
This situation is a travesty and needs a congressional investigation, but none of the Senators or Congressmen have been willing to look into it even though numerous retirees have written to their Congressmen/Senators.
The problem in healthcare financing is not that we don't have enough government intrusion or control and regulations, it's because we have too much of it so it distorts the efficiency and economy of private sector and free market, and constricts the competition for services, not encourages it. Government services and charities should be the last resort in times of necessity, not the first and final solution to any and all citizens' problems.
Want to see horror stories in socialized "universal" healthcare? Check out Canadian and British press or many articles posted on FR, like this latest one :
A Canadian Doctor Describes How Socialized Medicine Doesn't Work
Or watch British House of Commons sessions to see that 60%-80% of their daily discussions are devotes to how to fix NHS (National Health System) and prevent it from growing broke. Is that what you want your government to do?
Besides, why don't we see how the states who implement their own "universal" care are doing before rushing to impose CubaCare on everyone. If a state is successful in providing "free" good quality care to all their residents more people will flock there or want the same in their states and then other states will follow just to stay competitive. We already had a look at HillaryCare. We can look at the results of RomneyCare in Massachusetts, TennCare in Tennessee.
In Oregon cooler heads prevailed when it was put on the ballot, with overwhelming defeat a couple of years ago, but California just might get itself deeper into debt with Schwarzenegger's plan. With falling housing prices and lower revenue to the state as a result, this could be a repeat of their budget crunch after the Internet bubble which saw their previous Governor recalled.
Illinois will finance healthcare by increasing taxes on cigarettes (we can always tax cigarettes and "the rich" to finance anything that sounds good) - Illinois Senate panels OK cigarette tax, health care plan.
And Wisconsin is trying to go bankrupt with their own totally original homemade plan - Cheese Headcases - Wisconsin reveals the cost of "universal" health care.
Take your pick, there is no shortage of states that want to take over the rest of what's left of your control over your healthcare choice and its financing.
After all, as the states are laboratories of experiments, let's see firsthand (if we don't trust or can't see the reality of the experience of Canada, UK etc.) what happens and be able to change it when it doesn't work to something else that will not work. Health reform looks to the states - Bipartisan support increases for 'test labs' around the nation
And, once the government politicians and civil servants take over the control of your healthcare what do you think will happen to your privacy, and would "politically correct" diseases such as AIDS get priority and more money and attention and resources than ones you are more concerned with. And would embryonic stem-cell and other "politically correct" research projects be financed by newly created state healthcare bureaucracy?
BTW, had Michael Moore ever explained the real cost of "free" healthcare in Cuba and shown real clinics for regular Cuban citizens, I am sure that his "Sicko" movie would make a lot more money than it did, and it would kill any thought that anyone would ever have of "free" "universal" CubaCare as a model of what they want for themselves.