The cost of healthcare

By Lee Quandt

The battle over the new proposed government insurance program is getting heated up. In fact it does not appear to be about health insurance anymore; but, more about politics. If you support the government run health insurance do you support Obama? If you don’t support it does that make you a republican?

What is known, is it doesn’t appear that anyone in DC knows what they are doing or talking about. First of all insurance companies do not provide health care; they pay for it. The insurance rates to providers, doctor’s, hospitals, specialty etc, are negotiated with those providers. The insurance companies negotiate the lowest fee payment schedules with the providers, then tack on a decent amount for profit and charge you.

The dummies in DC are talking about the quality of health care when they should be talking about the quality of payments for that treatment plus big bonuses for insurance CEO’s; apples and oranges. Because of their apparent lack of understanding on how the system works I have serious questions as to the quality of the final work product.

If the government was serious about reducing the cost of health care delivery, they would revamp the medical malpractice laws. Secondly they would promote tax credits for health care delivery alternatives like free standing clinics for non life threatening medical issues, flu, sore throat, the dreaded ear infections for children, aches, pains etc; $50 payments vs. $800 emergency room visits.

They should not provide health care coverage to illegals. If that happens the US (that’s you and me) will be footing the bill for anyone who makes it to our shores for free health care and we will pay for it, driving up the price; bad idea.

Now looking at it politically, and deciding what poll you look at, the majority of Americans don’t want their health insurance tinkered with. The democrats say, “No we need to fix it, it is a crisis”. Everything with the Obama administration seems to be a crisis. If it is such a crisis why is it that it won’t take effect until after 2012, the next presidential election?

The best way to handle it is to leave it until the midterm elections and let the voters decide by electing candidates that will either fight it or pass it. That way it will be up to the voters to support socialized medicine that will be paid for by new taxes and ripping off Medicare to the tune of $500 million, or the old system that needs fixing.

What we do know is people do not like politicians messing around in their personal decisions such as health care or health insurance.