What if there was a way to add $17.6 BILLION per year to provide health care for the uninsured in America…with no tax increase, no federal deficit increase?

A few weeks ago I asked the question “How much would you give to help your neighbor?”. I didn’t get much response, but that may have been because folks were afraid I was going to ask for monetary gifts.

I’ve been thinking a lot about health care lately. I’m not a fan of the bill passed by Congress earlier this year. But I’m also not a fan of junking everything and starting over. There’s too many people in real need, and I know some of them. More than 3/4 of the uninsured in America are members of working families who cannot access health care, either because their employer doesn’t offer health insurance, or the costs are too high.

To recap a key point from my blog a few weeks ago: Americans are giving people. The whole world knows this! We give BILLIONS every year in response to needs, be it natural disaster relief, charitable contributions to third world countries, etc.

As the recent election indicated, many Americans are also tired of the government telling them what to do. I contend that the reason the government has assumed this role, is we, the people, have stopped voluntarily helping each other to the extent we used to. I’ve got some theories as to why, but they’re not germane to this discussion. The point is, we’ve got neighbors in need, and we can do something about it.

So, here’s my hair-brained idea: If every tax-filing entity in the US (that’s 144 million individuals/families, and 2.5 million corporations) were to voluntarily give $10 per month, that would provide $17.6 billion per year to health care for the uninsured. $10 per month! Even for my high-school daughter working part time jobs, that’s do-able.

If we, the people, were to inject $17.6 billion into health care for the uninsured, I believe we’d make a big dent. Would we solve it? Probably not. But it’s a start. And just like any of the big issues facing our nation/world today, there’s no single or easy fix. We’ve got to start chipping away at it.

What if…? Thoughts?