Health Care (Improvement) Reform

Yes we still want CHANGE!

The media frenzy over health care change is terribly confusing.

I asked one of my doctors in October if he thought things would change for the better after the November election. His answer was: "There is nothing healthy about it. Its not a system, and nobody cares." A sad commentary from a man practicing medicine for some twenty odd years.

We need more than change, we need IMPROVEMENT!

Yes we all want change in our health care system. Costs have been spiraling out of control for a long time now. It seems Doctors no longer have control over which treatment should be available to their patients. Payments to doctors are more likely to come as reimbursements for procedure charges than from preventative care. Giant insurance companies can and do deny services. They can and do terminate coverage based on pre-existing illnesses. This should be illegal. And when we change or lose our job, for what ever reason, we lose or need to re-enroll in a new health care insurance program.

It’s time to fix the health care system. Its terribly sad: we live in the wealthiest country in the world and many of us lose our resources to bankruptcy when we get sick. Sixty per cent of those who filed bankruptcy in 2008 did so because they got sick and lost their job. Eighty per cent of those had health insurance before getting sick. This situation will affect many more of us in the coming years!

When will we fix this problem?

Sooner if we stop listening to partisan propaganda. The Democrats promise the rainbow with very little concern for cost. The Republicans are still pumping FEAR into the media machine. "Socialism" has been the conservative scare word. And "corporate greed" has become the liberal scare phrase. Social Security has kept many of our parents and grand parents out of poverty, and no one wants to give it up. Consequently, moderate Socialism has become acceptable to many people in our country. It does have its place (in moderation) in America.

The other side of the argument is that we need to find a better way to pay for these programs. That too is a valid point. Profits keep our businesses strong. Strong American businesses ensure a strong American defense. All of these things are Americans ideals. Being and staying healthy should also be one of these ideals. Its time to declare that Health Care is a Right.

Let the conservatives continue with their “provider-choice" slant in this dialogue. But I would ask: "Doesn’t having a government-provided option encourage competition which in turn would put downward pressure on costs? Corporate providers appear to be afraid of this type of competition. Profits in business are one thing; excessive profits are obscene, especially when people are denied care and losing their life savings.

We need to stop being lazy and limiting our learning on this issue to television commercials created by interest groups, whether they are liberal or conservative. We all agree the health care system must improve…not just CHANGE. In order to know what we are talking about we need to make those concerned primarily with CARE talk about how this will be paid for. And we need make those who are concerned primarily with COST talk about how care will be delivered. Simply having a choice of provider is not the solution.

Wake up people!

If we change this into a system where we have a hundred bad choices we still have no choice. We have been bamboozled with the “choice” argument for way too long. “They” give us so many choices we are confused and when we are confused we back off. And, that’s what "they" want us to do, so "they" can carry on as usual.

There are millions of educated voters in this country. Now is the time to employ our education. Ask your neighbor, your coworker, your friends why they are more interested in which company provides his/her health care than things like keeping that insurance whether he or she is employed or not. Does it really matter if the insurance is an HMO (health maintenance organization) or the old fashioned Blue Cross & Blue Shield if it goes away when the insured worker gets laid off?

We had the power in November to effect change in the leadership of our government. We have the brains to work out this legislation to include a fair amount of care and profit.

I have decided to stand with President Obama.

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