Universal Hospice Care is Well on the Way

   Universal hospice care? Does everyone have the right to it? Should they? How expensive would this be? Who would pay for it?
   There are some private insurance companies that provide coverage, but hospice is mainly financed through Medicaid. Families who have benefited from hospice, praise it. Should not others also have access to hospice care for their dying families members?
   Already, nearly 42 percent of the terminally-ill in the United States receive some form of hospice. That is a lot. One wonders if we are not already well on our way to providing universal coverage. Much of this has come about as a result of Obamacare, which in 2010 established that patients no longer have to make a choice between hospice and curative care.
   I have reservations about hospice. But, it is a hard program to stand up against. Should I? Or should I accept that it is a great program? Millions have benefited from it. Millions have turned to hospice care workers to do the nursing as their family members come to the end of their lives. The hospice workers change the diapers. They change the bags. They provide the baths. They do the things we often don't have time to or are just as glad to see others do.
   Hospice for everyone? Do we continue, then, to leave it primarily for Uncle Sam to pay for it? Can he afford it? Should we require all insurance companies to offer it, in order to reduce the expense on Uncle Sam? Would that drive up rates too much? Shall we do it, anyway?
   Ultimately, its your money, America. Do you want to pay for this? Or, do you suppose you have found a way to not pay for it, by having Uncle Sam foot the bill, and letting it add to the national debt instead of being paid for on the spot?