Should healthcare be mandated? That question is being bandied around in political circles, social venues and in corporate strategy sessions. There are other “societal” mandates. Children must attend school. Many public employees must have mandated screenings, such as for tuberculosis, before working. In Ohio, drivers are mandated to carry insurance. Sometimes I get the words mandated and required confused. Are immunizations mandated or are they required for children to enter public schools? Is a marriage license mandated or required in order to get state benefits? On that note, should a license be mandated, or required, for people to be parents? Should it require a certificate with additional training, as required for a school teacher?
Lots of thoughts and questions arise. The debate over mandates often leads to the cost and who should pay. Children are mandated to go to school but must rely on property value levies for operating capital. Doesn’t seem to make sense. According to the Serenity Insurance web site, “People have choices when it comes to car insurance. If they don’t want to pay for it, they don’t have to drive. The health insurance mandate, however, does not offer such choices” (http://www.serenitygroup.com/health-insurance-mandate/). But the health care “mandate,” if it comes into being, will allow people to receive coverage even if they can’t afford it. Even today we have the “medical card” for those who need assistance. But if a person can’t afford car insurance, there is no “auto card” to help him or her keep a car insured so he or she can get a job. And think, since a child is mandated to go to school, and can’t afford lunch, the schools provide free or reduced lunches for these students. Some schools even provide breakfast. I applaud this.
Here are my questions: What things should be mandated in our society? And for these things, should there be public backing for those who simply can’t afford them?
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We have public schools from K-12. No one asks citizens to pay for basic education. We have Police, Fire, and Public Libraries, and no one asks you to do more than pay your taxes to support them. Yet something so basic as health care, which is the biggest single cause of personal bankruptcies in America, is not provided to nearly 47 million Americans. The Radical Right claims that offering a Public Option would lead to health care rationing. Newsflash!! We have rationing now by all the uninsured, and it will only get worse if we do nothing as more and more business drop coverage or raise the rates out of reach of the currently employed. Even the AMA supports health care reform. Most Western nations have long had national health care. I'm embarrassed as an American that nearly 45,000 people die each year because they don't have insurance. (Harvard Medical Study - http://www.factcheck.org/2009/09/dying-from-lack-of-insurance/)
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