Health Care Bill Is Badly Needed
It seems that wherever you turn these days, you cannot escape talk on the proposed health care plan wending its way through Congress. First, I think that everyone agrees that we need an overhaul of the current health care system. It just isn’t working. The costs are so prohibitive that many Americans cannot afford any coverage to begin with. Others, especially older Americans, often must make a decision regarding whether to seek medical care for something that ails them or buy food to eat.
It is obvious that the health care system is in drastic need of an overhaul. Too many people cannot afford health insurance and are relegated to visiting the emergency room when their minor infection festers into a serious, even life-threatening, problem.
The House of Representatives approved its version on the health care bill by a slim 220 for to 215 against. The Senate has narrowly approved the health care bill for debate on the Senate floor, 60 votes for, 39 against. Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla) stated on an ABC program, that: “The important thing for the American people to understand is this bill does not fix what is wrong with health care. We are treating symptoms, not the disease. It is really malpractice what we are doing. The problem with healthcare is it costs too much and there is nothing to address that.”
I could not agree with Senator Coburn more. The cost of healthcare is atrocious. Yes, these men and women who serve our medical needs spent many years in college, medical school, internship, and residency, but I always thought that, rather than the mercenary reasons for becoming a doctor (e.g., big money), the student-doctor chose his or her path out of a burning desire to help the sick. While I will not deny the doctor the right to charge his or her fee, I do think that hospital costs area out of control. Imagine being hospitalized overnight for observation and being charged $6.00 for a single aspirin because you have a headache or pain. I think everyone can agree that that is simply outrageous. And you better not bring your own bottle of aspirin with you to the hospital; that is simply forbidden.
And now with all the expensive machines hospitals and clinics have purchased, e.g., CT scanners, MRIs, and others, there is an incentive for the doctor to send the patient for scanning even though it may not be medically necessary. Of course, the doctor will complain about the number of medical malpractice lawsuits being filed and he or she has to practice “defensive medicine,” meaning more useless tests are performed than are medically necessary.
Be that as it may, it is clear that some sort of national health care program is necessary to ensure that every American has access to quality health care at a reasonable fee. If they disparingly call it the “public option” so be it. But without giving Americans a health program that they can afford and that will cover them regardless of their health condition, including preexisting conditions, our emergency rooms will continue to be flooded with people with no insurance who are severely ill.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.