Is this the kind of health insurance you want?

By Dr. Brian Russell

You may have noticed that I haven’t appeared on TV or written as much as I usually do in the months of June and July. That’s because, sadly, my father passed away earlier this month after a long battle with esophageal cancer. Simply put, he was a very good man. I tell you this not for sympathy but to make a point about the proposed government takeover of the American health care system. My dad was a former federal employee, and as such, he had obtained life insurance through the federal government. There’s a phone number that beneficiaries are supposed to call to report the death on an insured to the government’s Office of Personnel Management. I’ve now attempted to do that twice. Both times, I’ve been put on hold by an automated system for 45 minutes. The first time, I finally had to hang up to get some other important things done. The second time, my call finally was dropped, and I’m guessing that was because it was almost 4:00 p.m. eastern time, quitting time at the Office of Personnel Management. Hopefully, I’ll get my dad’s death reported and get the insurance benefit paid out eventually, but here’s my point: This is how the federal government administers an insurance program. Is it how you want your health insurance administered? If you get sick, do you want to be on hold for 45 min. waiting to get permission to see a doctor from someone who eventually just drops your call and clocks out, leaving you to call back and go through it all again the next day until you either recover on your own, end up in the emergency room, or die? I’m not exaggerating when I tell you I really believe that’s the risk we’re running if we start getting our health insurance from the federal government.

Dr. Brian Russell is a licensed psychologist, attorney at law and familiar national television pundit on psychological, legal and cultural issues.

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