I stayed up to hear the vote tonight. Thankfully the crazily named "skinnyrepeal" or "Healthcare Freedom Act of 2017" did not pass tonight. I was afraid that many Americans would lose their health care. I remember when the emergency rooms were filled with people without health care, and I knew that those people were not getting the kind of health care they needed. I also remember hearing stories of people who met catastrophic health needs without insurance resulting in less care and tremendous bills.
I also know that health care is a complex issue, one that's not easy to solve when you're talking about keeping 326,000,000 people healthy. I know that this issue, like any complex issue, depends on the expertise of all stakeholders, good process, priorities, goals and vision.
I say start with what we have in place now. What's working and what can be better. Think about a percentage cap for how much of a person's income they have to pay for health care. Economists can figure out the average percentages individuals will need for homes, food, health and other necessities and determine what's fair. No one should not be able to eat, have shelter, and receive good health care too. I believe our country has enough intelligence to construct a plan where people pay a fair amount to afford good health care for all.
I think we also have to look at the costs related to health care to make sure that some people aren't getting rich on individual's health needs. In addition, we can look at medical school caps and access to health careers training. Perhaps more health care professionals will lead to more affordable and accessible care. So many students today get turned away from medical school, and I wonder why that's true beyond those who are not qualified for the study.
I don't like to stay up this late, but I hate more to think that our country's leaders might vote against the essential needs of citizens, needs like adequate health care.
Fortunately the crazily-named skinny repeal did not pass, and now hopefully, our leaders will work together to work with bi-partisan efforts to develop and improve the Affordable Care Act so that no American is without good health care and also that no American is paying more than their share for health care.
I imagine health care of the future will take on an Amazon-like platform with greater man-machine integration. Now time for rest. Onward.
