Under the Administration of President George W. Bush, more than four million American signed up for drug discount cards. Also under his Administration, in 2006 all seniors will be able to pick a Medicare program to best suit their needs. That will take a large burden of the stress of finances off many seniors. I support it.
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are awesome. I strongly support every way possible to limit the government’s hold on our money and at the same time, we’re avoiding taxes. HSAs are a great way of making healthcare more affordable and giving more choices to Americans.
As part of a small business, I know first-hand the struggles of healthcare coverage for me and my colleagues at my firm. In addition, I have a friend who owns his own small business as a landscaper. He has a large family. He is paying more than $1,000.00 per month for health coverage. When I worked at a national bank (which has more than 25,000 employees), family health coverage in their group plan was available for less than $150 per month. I am working right now with elected officials to allow small businesses to join together to make their own group plan at discounts available to big companies like the company of which I was a part. It’s difficult for small businesses to compete and it’s difficult for families to afford good health insurance when they are paying such high premiums for the insurance and they have to pay the $1,000.00 along with the typical 40 percent.
Regarding Social Security and the issue that we have of it running out of money, the people that already paid into it must receive back what they paid into it. There’s a reason why Social Security has its own tax on your paycheck. We must however move away from Social Security being used as a retirement fund run solely by government employees.. It should not be the government’s responsibility to help one save for retirement. It needs to be more personalized. Allowing private companies to take over will again give more opportunity to the entrepreneur and the small business. It will promote growth in our economy rather than promoting growth in our government. As far as I’m concerned, real growth in our government is limiting government.
I have not been to a doctor in years, but many of my friends and family members complain about the high prices that their insurance company is paying for medical conditions and simple doctor visits. Through much research, I realized part of the problem lies in frivolous lawsuits. Some lawsuits cost doctors millions of dollars, which raises the premiums for doctor’s to pay for their insurance for their practice and for individuals to pay for their health coverage. Frivolous lawsuits have definitely made a mark with regard to insurance prices and the costs of medicine, but what is the answer to fit it? Candidly, I have not found a solution and I encourage discussion on this topic.
Most importantly, I’m going to make sure that you are the one making your decisions regarding your health rather than bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.
