Health Care

Generally, I avoid political debate or commentary. Rarely , if ever, does anything contructive ensue. So, if you are looking for a political debate here, it won't happen. I am going to talk about the deception being perpetuated on the American people.

Debating how we, as a society, are going to pay for health insurance is not a debate on health care. I don't know when the two became synonomous in the eyes of most Americans but they certainly have. Right now, today, all over this country, if you have a need for medical treatment you can get it without health insurance. Yes, you have to pay for it. But isn't that the way it should be?

I don't understand why someone has the expectation that others should pay for his/her blood pressure medication. Does this same person expect others to pay his/her rent? Does this person expect others to pay for that Big Mac or Whopper? Going without food or shelter will kill you a hell of a lot faster than going without blood pressure meds.

In my opinion, and it is just that, my opinion, I won't post a link to some website or web article to back up my opinion, the high cost of health care is a result of people not giving a damn what it cost because health insurance was picking up the tab. Human nature being what it is, if we perceive something to be free, we will take all that we can get, whether we actually need it or not.

Here is my plan.

1: Employers STOP paying any portion of our health insurance premiums. Pay that amount to each employee in cash every payday. Put the money in the hands of the individual and let the individual decide whether to pay that money to an insurance company or directly to the entity that provides his/her chosen amount of healthcare.

2: Place a cap on malpractice settlements.

3: Make medical malpractice a criminal offense. Put a few bad doctors in jail and other doctors will begin to pay attention.

4: Ban pharmaceutical advertising on television. The cost of drugs will drop and, even better, we will stop turning ourselves into a nation of hypochondriacs.