Proposed Solution to a Health Care Issue

Let me be clear:  I absolutely 100% support a single-payer system and do not believe that any current plan will solve our health care problems.  However, I also am a realist and do not believe the nation will be ready for a single-payer system immediately . . . at least, not until Obama's second term :)

Even before I was solidly in the Obama camp, I preferred his health care plan to Hillary's, largely (but not exclusively) because I oppose universal mandates.  I agree with Obama, that we should not mandate people who cannot afford payments to pay the insurance companies before prices become affordable.  We should trust people to make these decisions for themselves and not encourage them to resent government involvement in their health care.

I understand however that we run into a problem with people who choose to remain uninsured.  What happens when they get sick?  Often taxpayers end up footing the bill in the end.  This is what happens now.  But in the future should the public continue to take responsibility for those who choose to take their chances?

Here's my proposal, presuming Obama's plan gets passed, and there are no mandates, but there is a government-sponsored non-profit plan to offer:

People are free to choose not to buy insurance.  HOWEVER, if they become sick and have to go to the hospital,

1. There is NO fine or punishment for not having insurance, HOWEVER:

2. They are 100% responsible for paying the bills associated with that particular illness, and

3. While at the hospital they will be legally required to register for and purchase some form of insurance.

There will obviously be those who try to go around this plan, however, it will be illegal, and the taxpayer will be at least in part absolved from picking up the bills for the uninsured.  At the very least, the public will not be responsible for more than one illness per person.

Those that decline to buy insurance are often young and healthy, so it remains their choice whether to become insured.  But once they are sick it will hopefully become clear to them that they will need insurance at some point or another, and perhaps they will be more motivated to sign up.