National Health Lottery:
Chapter One
National Health Lottery: A New Way to Fund Health Insurance
Chapter One:
Solving the Great Issue of our Time
The answer to the question "Why does the USA need a National Health Lottery?" can be given in one word: Money.
Everyone knows the interlinked health care and health insurance system is unquestionably the greatest issue that confronts us as a nation today. It permeates every aspect of American society. It carries a high price tag for every business that carries it, and limits those who do not or cannot.
Health care, health insurance and health reform are on the minds and tongues of everyone who cares about their loved ones, their personal futures and the future of this country. The sense of urgency to do something — anything — is not frivolous, and is heightened by politics and efforts to keep the status quo in place.
Of course things cannot remain the same. We have a major problem that must be addressed.
I have great hope that we will be able to find the right prescription to overcome our current and projected difficulties.
I believe my plan of implementing a National Health Lottery can go a long way in helping us solve this problem.
As a friend explained to me: "You know, George, the problem today is that it's like we're living in a town where the levee has broken and the water is flowing across our streets and yards. The water is now almost up to our porches.
"So we Americans are standing on our porches and agreeing with each other that the levee needs to be fixed. However, we are unable to agree on how to fix it. Eventually we end up saying, 'Okay, then, let's agree that in two years we will begin to fix the levee.'"
Then my friend gets to the heart of why a National Health Lottery is so timely:
He says, "George, the great thing about your plan is that it tackles the problem immediately. At the very least, it gives us breathing room to figure out what to do. With your plan, billions of dollars can begin to flow into our health insurance system in a matter of weeks and months, not years.
"People are hurting now. They cannot keep waiting for the promise of relief from some future solution, if it is implemented at all. That's why your plan is so important and needs to be discussed by politicians, journalists, business owners and everyone. It's a big idea whose time has come. I hope America listens to you."
I'm glad that my friend sees that a National Health Lottery can provide critical funding in the short term — in a matter of months, not years. He is right.
Immediate funding through a National Health Lottery will give our leaders and opinion-makers more time to rise above politics and join together to hammer out the best and uniquely American solution. I have great faith that we are the stuff of greatness still.
In Search of Sustainability, Permanence and Affordability
What my friend may not completely understand is that a National Health Lottery is far more than a temporary solution. It is a permanent solution, and that is why I have written this book.
Over time I believe many good people with better minds than mine will shepherd a National Health Lottery intelligently and with compassion so that it can grow into the centerpiece of our strategy to maintain quality health care and bring down health insurance costs at the same time.
My thoughtful friend can be assured that my plan for a National Health Lottery will, in time, help millions of Americans who are not covered. How can this be accomplished? My plan will bring down insurance rates substantially. With rates lower, millions more will be able to afford coverage and buy health insurance.
This lower-priced health insurance will be portable and will no longer be tied to a group. It will be similar to auto insurance in that health insurance will be sold on an individual basis, not on a group basis.
Furthermore, my plan not only allows competition, it encourages it. Healthy competition will allow for thousands of insurance companies to offer a great rainbow of different health coverage. It will be a far better system to allow everyday citizens to have many health insurance choices to pick from, not just one plain vanilla policy or not just the policy that a particular employer offers.
My plan will encourage insurance companies to offer portability. A person will be able to leave an employer and not lose his health insurance. This new freedom will allow for millions to follow their passion or pursue their dream jobs without fear of losing coverage. Can you imagine how the entrepreneurial spirit will be unleashed when millions of Americans will be able to tell their bad bosses to take this job and shove it? Most workers today cannot afford to do this now; if they leave their jobs, they leave their health insurance. That's just not right. It makes most of us mere serfs, who are trapped in an antiquated system of group health insurance. The time to change is now. But how?
Understandably, all of us worry that any new mammoth solution that is mandated by the government will sink this country financially. The fear that an ill-fated solution that is inflexible and autocratic will mire us down for years, if not decades, is not without merit. I say that not to instill fear, rather to address the need for us as a nation to not miss the mark as we search to find the best, new solution.
And what is the target? I think most of us agree that it is to keep health care quality high and insurance rates low. I believe that any reform must first serve the working middle class, the backbone of this country.
Working to lower health insurance rates will require good, old, American competition and innovation. And, obviously, not just any solution will allow this to happen.
My plan that features a National Health Lottery and complementary ideas to encourage competition among health insurance companies is well conceived. It is sustainable. It will not bankrupt us as a nation. It will launch us into a new entrepreneurial force of innovation and competition.
My plan does not look to raise taxes, instead just the opposite. My proposed system fits into the character, the very fabric, of our nation.
My solution allows us to pay as we go for our health care. My plan allows more and more people to be able to afford coverage.
As you continue to read and consider the details of my simple health insurance plan, which people are just beginning to hear about, you may appreciate that it should not be underestimated. Its very simplicity should not disguise or misrepresent its immense power.
Where the Current Debate Has Centered
The United States needs more money to help pay for the exploding expense of health care, health insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. The debate has revolved around these key issues: (1) increased taxes (2) more cost containment (3) greater regulation to combat fraud and waste (4) affordability (5) quality of care and (6) sustainability.
My plan addresses all six of these areas. It addresses the heart of the issue. And what is the heart? It's the numbers. In the end, the health care and health insurance problem is centered on making the huge dollar amounts involved work for us, not against us.
Ours is a great nation. I believe that all who examine my proposal of a National Health Lottery with its complementary components will be amazed that it has great merit. I believe that they will agree that it can help herald in a new era of great innovation, entrepreneurship and opportunity, particularly for the little guy.
So let's turn down the volume of the politicking and quibbling. Let's roll up our sleeves and see just how good of an idea a National Health Lottery can be on our road to achieve a more perfect union.
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