Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff. 

Democrats across the board are hoping to remove President Trump from office within his first nine months with help from mainstream media who are churning out as many negative news stories about President Trump, his staff and his appointees as they can print or produce for television and repeated on social media.

It’s everywhere you look on mainstream media with Democrats still clamoring for President Trump to release years of past IRS tax records, which he has not done despite saying he would while campaigning. Democrats are advocating for endless investigations involving President Trump and his ties to Russia along with claims that Russians colluded with Trump’s team to influence the 2016 national election.

At this point in time, congressional Republicans in Washington are finding unity in the repeal of the ACA or better known as ObamaCare, but not with its replacement, at least not yet. The debate continues among lawmakers on how to best provide health insurance for those presently covered by ObamaCare, but no concrete numbers have yet to be put forth on how much the premiums and deductibles will cost for average Americans to have affordable health care.

“We are united on repeal, but we are divided on replacement,” said Libertarian and Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a physician and former presidential candidate, who has put forth his own healthcare bill.

As the U.S. Congress wrestles with healthcare in America, they need to look no further than across the Pacific Ocean to the island nation of Japan to find a successful single-payer system in which all its 126.4 million citizens are covered with universal healthcare, according to Wikipedia. And of course there’s a lot to be learned from Costa Rica’s single-payer system covering its 5-million citizens and foreign residents with universal healthcare.

Here are the basics to Japan’s single-payer universal healthcare plan, but none of this is being considered in the USA — not yet.

“Payment for personal medical services is offered by a universal healthcare insurance system that provides relative equality of access, with fees set by a government committee. All residents of Japan are required by the law to have health insurance coverage. People without insurance from employers can participate in a national health insurance program, administered by local governments. Patients are free to select physicians or facilities of their choice and cannot be denied coverage,” according to Wikipedia. “Hospitals, by law, must be run as non-profits and be managed by physicians. For-profit corporations are not allowed to own or operate hospitals. Clinics must be owned and operated by physicians. Medical fees are strictly regulated by the government to keep them affordable. Depending on the family income and the age of the insured, patients are responsible for paying 10-percent, 20-percent or 30-percent of medical fees, with the government paying the remaining fee. Also, monthly thresholds are set for each household, again depending on income and age, and medical fees exceeding the threshold are waived or reimbursed by the government.”

Japan’s plan is amazing simple and easy to understand compared to the 20,000 pages of the Affordable Care Act that is now being debated in the U.S. Congress with the goal of repealing and replacing it with President Trump’s American Health Care Act reported to be about 120-pages long. A vote in the U.S. House is not expected for at least two weeks when the issue will go to the U.S. Senate, according to news reports.

Forever vicious in their attacks upon President Trump, the Democrats led by U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) are vowing to continue their total opposition to repealing ObamaCare while at the same time requesting additional FBI investigations of President Trump and Russia. Mainstream media is making a big deal out of the Trump administration giving pink slips to 46 U.S. attorneys nationwide which has routinely taken place over the years with a change in the presidency.

What’s missing in the healthcare debate in America is a total lack of actual financial figures about monthly payments with what deductibles and subsidies. Japan is a good comparison to the USA in what is possible with a single-payer system covering such a large population but there’s no talk of that in the U.S. Congress. Nobody is talking about taking the profit out of the healthcare equation. There is no peace in Washington.

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.