I've some thoughts on a replacement for the Affordable Care Act. I originally thought when ACA was first proposed that Medicare should be expanded and was roundly criticized. I still think that expanding Medicare would be a good place to start for universal health care as the bureaucracy is already in place. Get rid of Worker's Compensation and use their budget and employees to fill the gaps that the current Medicare bureaucracy doesn't have or will need since there will be no need for WC since everything would fall under the healthcare umbrella. Result: smaller government, no need for further funding, and less red tape for workers injured on the job. No need for networks or the red tape that go with all that because they are all American citizens in need of healthcare. No need to hire more government workers since the workers from Workers' Comp are already trained and can be shifted to the expanded Medicare division. Streamlining shouldn't be an issue as long as bureaucracy antics are stopped. For instance, padding a budget to make sure you have the funds for overtime in case you need overtime by requiring mandatory overtime to spend the budget you already have in order to justify a budget hike the next fiscal year.
At any rate, Medicaid would no longer be necessary either since a universal health care plan based on Medicare with the resources, skills, and knowledge of the already existing Medicare bureau would cover welfare recipients since they are citizens and thus entitled to universal health care under the expanded Medicare umbrella. Deal with Medicaid in the same manner as WC by using trained employees to fill slots in the expanded Medicare division and divert funds from Medicaid to cover the UHC (universal health care) plan. Smaller government, same budget, and utilizing the existing personnel and expertise. Result: consolidation of health care services to the people.
People could purchase insurance based on far more competitive rates since health insurance will no longer be mandated by law. Insurance companies will have to restructure their current plans and costs in line with the UHC as will hospitals and providers to reflect the changed landscape of UHC for all citizens. Welfare will be reduced since Medicaid will no longer be part of the bureaucracy or the welfare system. By reducing costs across the board in the health care industry and resetting the insurance business by taking them out of the overall health care costs, we can begin working on lowering the cost of drugs and streamlining medical care.
The biggest complaint about universal health care is what would happen to the health care industry and insurance. Take insurance out of the equation and re-allocate budgets and costs in line with expanded Medicare, get rid of Medicaid and Workers' Comp and use their resources and funding to cover expanded Medicare, and we will see a better regulated health care industry overall.
Granted, I'm not a bureaucrat, but I have worked in the health care industry for over 30 years in insurance, claims, workers' comp, medicaid, medicare, and in hospitals and doctors' offices so I have gained some insight into the problems and some solutions. It doesn't take a bureaucrat to fix the problems of bureaucracy but talking with the people who have worked in and with the red tape that gums up the works. I have solutions for the homeless issue as well and it doesn't include banning them from the streets with an 'out of sight, out of mind' mentality, but a plan that will rehab high crime areas, repurpose resources, retrain the homeless, and give them education and skills to get back into the mainstream based on my own experience being homeless for a short period of time in the 1980s and looking at the problems first hand. We do not need more government, we need common sense solutions to the issues on the ground. Less political rhetoric and more elbow grease and common sense solutions.
I am offering something other than empty wishes and anger. As an American citizen, this is my ante for the common pot.
That is all. Disperse.
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