Two Fatally Flawed Healthcare Plans Inside of a Flawed Healthcare System updated July 2017

• Both Trumpcare and ObamaCare are fatally flawed in intention and execution.
• Obamacare is not economically viable; Trumpcare lacks compassion.
• Neither accepts that all Americans are entitled to healthcare like citizens of more compassionate countries (like Cuba)

Here are some well kept secrets: 

• For insurance company to be profitable they need a lot of healthy people to sign up for their policies and as few sick people as possible. To insure those with pre-existing conditions, the individual mandate must stay in place for insurance companies to make a profit. (The single payer system does not have this problem.)
• Our country is not a healthy place to live: we live in a high stress, materialistic society, eat and drink poorly, sit on our butts too much, and are driven by a "righteous" competition.
• The poor are much sicker on average than middle class but do not have the resources or knowledge on average to improve their lot in live, including their health.

How is it that Cuba has decided that all people deserve access to their healthcare system and we have decided that all our people are not entitled to healthcare? Did you know that the Cuban Healthcare System produces better results in terms of the health of their people than our system? (Its good we have kept separate from them for 50 years, otherwise we would start expecting to be as healthy as a Cuban.)

Intention
Democrats and Republicans are most concerned with being re-elected. The current strategy of both is to make the other side look bad and blame the other side for all the problems facing us in healthcare (and everything else for that matter). Neither side is bringing serious and well-thought-out-options to the table. There is no easy way out of this mess and few are willing to face the reality we need to re-evaluate all of our assumptions, keep an open-mind and work together to solve this healthcare crisis.

Now let's look at some details of the broken system(s):

The Fine for Obamacare is too Small

Obamacare requires everyone to either sign up for insurance or pay a fine/tax.  The goal was to get everyone that is healthy to sign up for insurance to avoid paying the mandated fine/tax. The problem is the fine was/is too small and people quickly figure out that it's better to just pay the fine and then when you get sick sign up for insurance. Well, what happens is that only sick people sign up for healthcare, especially those with pre-existing conditions- and the rates snowball upward. So, the intention was noble but the mandate did not have enough teeth. (You don't have to like the mandate, but the fact is that the mandate is necessary if you want those with pre-existing conditions to have insurance.)

And as far as the mandate being a tax forced upon all -- well, that is true -- just like I am forced to pay taxes that are used for war. This is a tax forced upon us all to help our neighbors have healthcare. Here's the deal, don't make me pay taxes for the military industrial complex and I will listen to your complaint about not paying taxes for your neighbors. Taxes for war are painful for me, taxes to help my neighbor, not so much.

Trumpcare Approach is Simple and Cruel
The strategy is simple for Trumpcare: don't provide health care for the poor covered by medicaid and cut taxes for the rich. It also allows a two tier insurance system, expensive policies for those with pre-existing and cheaper policies for the healthy. In short, those with pre-existing conditions will just be priced out of the market and have no insurance just like the poor. Simple way to save money, let people die.

Those with jobs will still be okay since there is more or less a mandate that every one in a company has access to healthcare insurance including those with pre-existing conditions and those without  ... the company is mandated to cover all employees.  Which is why it works ...

In short, Trumpcare will price the poor, sick and those with pre-existing conditions out of the healthcare system to make it easier for the rest of us. Yes, it more economically viable for the insurance companies. But, poor people and those with pre-existing conditions would be better off in Cuba than the U.S. for their healthcare needs. Of coure, an American going to Cuba for medical care is against the law in our free country.

We are an Unhealthy Country and a Back-Assward Approach to Healthcare
We have lost our way.  Like an old toothless drunk in a bar that was the tough guy in his youth, we sway in front of the crowd and scream out I AM THE GREATEST.  We are not healthy -- we are stressed out people, in debt, buying stuff and not enjoying the simple pleasures of life.  We have anxiety that leads to addiction, excess drinking and eating, compulsive behavior, working excessively and carrying around a lot of anger and blame.  Yea, you may be the exception, or you may be lying to yourself. But, back to a sharper focus on healthcare.

Our system is based on treating sickness.  Live like you want, work yourself to death, pop pills or have another cocktail to make it through another day, drink that can of sugar water or puff on the cigeratte, or rant at the other political party, and then when your body develops some cracks in the mortar, go see the doctor. Our system is based on beating out the other guy to get the big prize; it is not based on carrying the load together.  Our Military can solve all our problems and the world problems because we know what is best -- we are the greatest.

How does your healthcare system help you live a healthy life?  What preventative systems does it provide?  Does anyone help you monitor your life, your habits and help you understand the consequences of your actions?  Does anyone help you address your anxieties and anger?  Does anyone help you plan a healthy life style? Isn't the message from our healthcare system:  No need to worry about your lifestyle, just live for today and when you get sick all you need to do is pop a new pill for each new aliment.

When is the last time that you got an assessment of your life expectancy for your living style?  Or a prediction of how many days you will live your life in poor health if you stay on the path you are on?   Of course not, we do not fund such mundane, useless items.  What about helping you eliminate carcogins from your environment?  Oh, that appointment is next week?  What about your report on your level of physical activity and how that is impacting your future?  What about that therapist that is advising you on how to have a happier and more peaceful life?  Not going to happen in our system -- duh.

We Can Afford a Preventive Healthcare System for All

It is a selfish myth that we can not afford a preventative healthcare system for all.  Read about the Cuban Healthcare System.  And don't dare compare the care the wealthy get in this country to the care a common man in Cuba gets.  Compare the poor in this country to the poor in Cuba ... and there is no contest, Cuba ... Cuba!!!!!! wins.

The hard part of impoving our healthcare system is the self-evaluation of our lifestyle and our priorities in this country that is leading to an increasingly sick country in both mind, body and spirit.  The world is full of countries that can provide a blueprint for universal healthcare.  We just have to be willing to pick it up and follow it.

We need a health care system based on love and compassion for our fellow man.  What we have now is the best medical facilities in the world with access increasingly tied to one's economic position in our GDP machine.

Love and compassion for all -- or hate and fear for "them" --- that is the issue before us.

The Trump-Russia Witch-Hunt by Robert R. Odle, Ph.D.

If you turn on the news, especially MSNBC or CNN, you get only one story: Trump and his associates may have conspired with the Russians to win the election or perhaps something even more terrible.  A trickle of “facts” keep coming in that  shows Trump’s associates DID TALK WITH RUSSIANS.  Oh, my god is what they want you to think.  What did they talk about?

This has been going on since the summer!!!  Almost nothing else has happened in the rest of the world since then, except of course,  Trump’s Immigrant and Refugee Debacles.  Democrats are intent on proving that Trump is not only incompetent but that he is a traitor.  The news has joined the cause with the democrats.

Let me first state that I am Independent, that I supported Bernie and then Gary.  Philosophically I am closely aligned with the democrats on most social and environmental issues and aligned more with Republicans on many monetary issues (except for one).   I have little love for Trump or Hillary.

But, I am an American and I believe it is important to support the President and that we interact with him in a positive and meaningful way.  I believe in giving him the benefit of the doubt and not speculating on what he might of done wrong. I believe in innocent until proven guilty.  I also don’t believe in listening to Trump’s rhetoric on his greatness, let’s see a plan with some meat on the bones and the legislation to support it. I would also like to see some unbiased reporting on the impact of his executive orders.  Of course, I have more concerns about Trump but that is not the subject of this blog.

Aside from bashing Trump, what is the message of the news and the democrats.  The news and the democrats seem to be laying the groundwork for a military war with Russia. They never (seldom) report on the very real threats Russia feels as we tightened the noose around their country with anti ballistic missiles.   If we can shoot down Russian missiles, even some of them, it destroys the balance of power between the U.S. and Russia.  Of course, to our media the Russians are the bad guys and there is no justification for their fears or actions.  That is not to say Putin is a good guy.

So, where is this all leading.  Trump just asked for $55 billion additional funding for the military.  And here is the saddest part.  It is not cool to stand against military spending, it is un-American.  A few like Rand Paul will step up and say they want a balanced budget, but there will be no outcry from the democrats and media similar to this Trump-Russia witch-hunt.  

So, as Americans we have lots of challenges ahead of us:  a decaying infrastructure, a medical system that is expensive and ineffective as Americans become sicker, big cities with lots of inner-city violence, social programs that are not sustainable, trade imbalances, soaring personal and government debt, etc.  And are the democrats and the media discussing the merits of the pending legislation of the Republicans or seeking to join hands with them in addressing these challenges?  Of course not.  And we have come to accept this as just the way it is.  These are tough challenges and the democrats are copping out behind rhetoric, see an example with Obamacare.

Instead of addressing these challenges and encouraging meaningful discussion, the democrats and the media are instead pushing us toward a renewed cold war with Russia, and perhaps a ground war in Ukraine.  The big winner as usual will be the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) and the big loser will be the American people.  Don't confuse my distrust of the Democratic intentions with my acceptance of the Republican agenda. 

Both sides and the media need to step up to the plate and address the problems this nation is wallowing in.

Stalemate in Congress Continues: Americans Lose

Congress is at it again.  Trump brags he is going to make America great while signing executive orders attacking immigrants, refugees, and the environment.  Meanwhile the democrats are fixated on the Trump-Russia connection.  If that card is not an ace, then they have nothing.

What is the first quagmire?  Obamacare, of course.

Republicans have committed to repeal and recently to repeal and replace.

Democrats are committed to improving Obamacare.

Both now agree on “pre-existing conditions” although they don’t agree on how that will be funded.  Obama resorted to a mandate for everyone to get insurance or pay a tax.  Republicans will push for higher copays and put pressure on the states to fund the gap between what poor people can afford and what healthcare costs. Republicans will drop mandates that forces insurance companies to offer policies that meet minimum standards.   

Republicans will allow cross state competition in hopes that this will decrease insurance rates for healthcare.  Republicans will also lower the amount of medicaid that it sends the states and expect them to make up the difference.

So, much of these changes posed by the Republicans could be considered improvements to Obamacare that the Democrats would reluctantly accept.  A few would vote yes to these changes to balance out the no-votes from Republicans. However, Republicans will say they are repealing Obamacare and replacing it.  In reality, they will be copying most of Obamacare and making some changes to make it more affordable and/or competitive.

Democrats would accept the changes if they are called “improving Obamacare” but not if it is called repealing Obamacare and replacing it.  

The end product would be the same whether it is called “repeal and replace Obamacare” or if it called “improving Obamacare”.  Republicans will support the first, but not the second, and visa-versa for the Democrats.  Neither will have enough votes by themselves to get it passed.  Stalemate.

Who loses?  Americans, as usual. Both parties are broken, but Americans keep supporting these non-functional parties.