DAVE ROSS

Ross: Our health care system shouldn’t punish us for getting sick

Aug 1, 2019, 8:00 AM | Updated: Aug 15, 2019, 6:02 am

health care, life expectancy, new health insurance law, Virginia Mason...

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

(AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

So, for those of you who watched the second debate last night: Do you understand the difference between the Biden health plan and the Harris health plan and the Sanders health plan?

Ross: A new theory about why our health care is so expensive

For that matter, do you even understand the plan you currently have? As in what it covers and doesn’t cover and when it stops covering what you thought it would cover?

Let me ask this: Is humanly possible to understand any American health care plan?

So, as I sat there I asked myself what would I like to hear a candidate say on this topic. Because what they usually do is tell a heart-wrenching story about someone who couldn’t pay their hospital bill.

But what I would like to hear a candidate say that if they were elected, no one – rich or poor, working or not – will ever have to worry about losing what they’ve earned just because they get sick.

I think we agree there are times when people do deserve to lose everything, like if they go around shooting people, or knowingly sell a dangerous product, or hack an election. But either we agree that you shouldn’t be punished for getting sick, or there’s no point debating health care plans.

An important question about America’s health care system

A promise of health care for everybody costs serious money. And if it turns out a majority of Americans believe there are people who deserve to be punished for getting sick, you will never get them to pay, no matter how many heart-wrenching stories you tell.

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Ross: Our health care system shouldn’t punish us for getting sick