THE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAM NO ONE WANTS

One of my all time favorite talk show hosts, and a great personal inspiration, was J.P. McCarthy. He died 10 or so years ago of a rare blood disease and till this very day I miss him very much. It's strange to miss someone so much that you really didn't even know. I listened to his show every work day for years and I always loved the way he could talk to anyone with equal respect. Democrat or Republican. My daughter jokes that I could talk to a rock about dirt. If that's true, I learned it from J.P. McCarthy.

One day, after a particularly trying series of calls from listeners on polar opposite ends of an issue, J.P. paused for what seemed like a really long time. When he came back on, he said with great exasperation, "Why is it we are so prone to run to "A" or "Z" when there is so much room in the middle?"

Why, Indeed.

The Health Care issue in the United States feels like that to me. On the "A" side stands the Republicans. In their view, everything is just great the way it is now. Everyone gets care. No one is denied health care if they show up at the emergency room door. They will tell you that other countries with Universal Health Care are in shambles. People wait for months for cancer treatment and bureaucrats, not health care professionals, decide what treatment is proper. And worst of all, those of us with good health care will see our health care shrink. Frankly, most of that is horribly spun. If not a down-right lie.

On the "Z" side stands the Democrats. What they are proposing is a move toward absolute coverage for every ailment that the masses come across. Abortions-covered, sex change-covered, mental illness-covered, flea dip for Fi-Fi the Poodle-covered. That would be a disaster of monumental proportions. One only needs to look at the average person abusing SSI to see how bad this can be. Medicaid cards are treated like Gold Visa cards by some doctors. Test after test after test. I know of one young man who fought for years to get on SSI for a questionable "illness". End result? Over a million dollars on tests and then a fat $30,000 check for back pay on his SSI. To see how many will exploit a system like that, just look at what happened to Hungary.

So, there's "A" and "Z". Both utterly unacceptable.

Now, here's what I'm proposing. I'll call it "Proposal M". With Proposal M you get catastrophic health care coverage issued by the Government as long as your a legal U.S. citizen. What this means is that every man, woman, child and any liberal combination of the three, gets coverage against any major health issue that you can have. As long as you have it involuntarily. Sex change-not covered, abortion-not covered, breast enlargement-not covered, hair transplants-not covered. Also not covered are office calls or tests. Frankly, nothing is covered until it's determined that you have a major problem. What are covered are operations, cancer treatment, major life-threatening injuries, bone marrow transplants and the myriad of god-awful things that can put an uninsured person into bankruptcy.

But H.C., what about all the other things? Poor people can't afford office calls and tests! For that I would expand on our already successful state run clinics. Sure, you won't get your own doctor, sure you'll have to wait in line with smelly homeless people, but once it's determined that you have a serious illness it's back on the fast track that everyone has.

But H.C, I already have health care. Will I have to give up my doctor? My place at the front of the line? Absolutely not. You will be able to purchase health care just like you do now, only it will be way cheaper since it doesn't have to cover any of the big -ticket payouts. Anyone can purchase additional coverage. Hell, I can buy flood insurance on my home and I live on a hill! Noah would be floating by on an Ark before my basement would flood.

There are two major problems with our current system the way I see it. 1) People without coverage (usually working poor) are seeing their life savings destroyed by one major health issue. This can also happen to someone who loses their job but has too many assets to qualify for help. It should never be that someone in this country goes all the way back to square one because of a series of unfortunate events beyond their control. 2) Expensive health care coverage is making our companies less competitive in the global market. Proposal M is a solution to both those problems.

Universal Health care is a dangerous venture for any country to enter into, much less one as big and as prone to abuse as ours. Catastrophic coverage is a good way to start without destroying both our current health care system and our budget. Sure, it's a bitter pill for conservatives to swallow, of course it's not everything the Socialists are hoping for, but I for one, would be happy knowing that, no matter what happens, I'll never lose my house and everything that I've ever worked for because I lost my job and got sick or hurt. Proposal M may not be perfect, but "A" and "Z" are completely unacceptable. So, let's make J.P. McCarthy proud and show him we Americans do know there's something between "A" and "Z". Proposal M. H.C.