Hotair reported yesterday the first salvo in what will probably be a very contested debate over universal health care (via nytimes.com). I’ve also added my commentary on questions that really ought to be asked…

Without waiting for President-elect Barack Obama, Senator Max Baucus, the chairman of the Finance Committee, will unveil a detailed blueprint on Wednesday to guarantee health insurance for all Americans by facilitating sales of private insurance, expanding Medicaid and Medicare, and requiring most employers to provide or pay for health benefits.

Aides to Mr. Obama said they welcomed the Congressional efforts, had encouraged Congress to take the lead and still considered health care a top priority, despite the urgent need to address huge problems afflicting the economy. …

Mr. Baucus would create a nationwide marketplace, a “health insurance exchange,” where people could compare and buy insurance policies. The options would include private insurance policies and a new public plan similar to Medicare. Insurers could no longer deny coverage to people who had been sick. Congress would also limit insurers’ ability to charge higher premiums because of a person’s age or prior illness.

People would have a duty to obtain coverage when affordable options were available to all through employers or through the insurance exchange. This obligation “would be enforced, possibly through the tax system,” the plan says.

I happened to have talked to my primary care physician about this issue (he happens to be very conservative as well). He remarked that, if a single-payer system were to pass in Washington, his practice would turn into a two-tier system. A patient would only get the same kind of care they’re used to getting now if they paid extra — a lot extra — for his time as a medical professional. Further, anecdotal evidence suggests that there are fewer younger people entering the medical profession, and he also thought that many older physicians would simply retire due to not wanting to deal with all of the then-onerous government regulations that would surely ensue.

My position? Health care (health insurance is completely different) is not a right; it’s a privilege. My doctor is a professional, just as my car mechanic is a professional, just as I am an IT professional. I no more have a right to work than my car mechanic has a right to always work on cars.

Why not, instead, invoke a system of “major medical” coverage, where everyone pays for the vast majority of their health choices, and are backed up by a catastrophic health plan, similarly to the way that we have automobile insurance? Why not, also, list fees for services at doctor’s offices and hospitals so that we know ahead of time how much things cost, and plan appropriately? And, further, why not make things a heck of a lot more electronic, so that we don’t have to fill out paperwork, nor have it shuffled around every time on an office visit?

-Phil