Health Care Reform

All day long I have been listening to the debating going on over health care reform. I have one question. Why does every solution to anything in this country go past common sense and become a taxable monster?

Yes, we need a change in health care. It isn't the quality that needs changing. It is the cost. I have been in and out of the health care business most of my adult life. (I am 60 years old). Back in 1968 a woman could have a baby and the cost of her room alone was only $72 a day. The delivery was only like $200. What happened? GREED happened.

By 1990 I saw such greed it made me sick. I was the First Aid Captain of a volunteer fire dept. Part of my job was to make sure the ambulances were supplied. I would purchase Stiffneck cervical collars for $16 each. There was a deal with the hospital that if we brought in a patient with a collar that was exposed to body fluids it would get left at the hospital and exchanged for a brand new one which was then billed to the patient's insurance. The amount billed to their insurance? A whopping $85!! Why?? You and I all know it didn't cost the hospital as much as I paid for the original one. Never mind the $5 Tylenol that only cost the hospital one nickle. Greed!

That greed began when frivolous lawsuits got big. Now insurance goes up. Doctors pay a horrible amount for insurance. The hospitals pay an enormous amount for insurance. Judges need to throw the cases out. I cannot believe a smoker winning $300 million because he got cancer from smoking. There is a warning on the label. He didn't pay attention to it. (I am a former smoker) The cigarette companies didn't put the cigarette in his mouth and light it! It is no different than an alcoholic. Alanon teaches that we didn't pour the drink, put it in the hand of the alcoholic, put it to their lips and force them to swallow. It was a conscious decision on the part of the alcoholic alone. Why are judges allowing these suits in their courts?

Every night I watch commercials on TV from lawyers who want to sue for you because you got cancer from asbestos. When that product was developed there wasn't the level of testing that is done today. That means they had no clue it was going to create a harmful thing after many years of exposure. Why are people suing?? Why are people suing because something happened to them when they took a medication? Every commercial for meds has 5-10 seconds of what side effects may come from that medication. There are two choices. Take the medication and accept the side effects that happen or don't take it. Find something else. If you choose to take it then you can't sue for side effects. I don't see medications leave a pharmacy without a long written description of what may happen if you take this medication. Why are lawsuits being allowed?

We can change health care without a rise in taxes and without all this government money. Stop the lawsuits, allow free trade across state lines, allow doctors to decide what is best for their patients, let the pharmaceuticals compete. Free trade and commerce as was experienced before life got like this kept this country alive and prospering.

Enough is enough. Lets get out there and let our politicians know that they have to get things right or get replaced. Not just on health care. On all this government interference in our lives.