The Health Care Debate

The health insurance industry has needed reform for over 30 years. (I have commented on this before.)

The bottom line: This country is disgraceful. Milliions of citizens are without means to pay for health care, and our government caters to the wealthy insurance companies.

Do I sound like a socialist? Perhaps.

But, instead, I ask the question: Who in this country does not deserve to receive medical treatment?

Right now, the opponents of health care reform are essentially sending us the message that the profits of the health insurance companies are more important than the ability of the citizens to get basic care. They will couch it in different language, such as suspicion about cost, pending doom to life as we know it if the insurance companies are put out of business by a cheaper, government-sponsored plan, a nefarious plot by the government (ie them) to erode our health care and force us into a bureaucratic nightmare of socialized medicine.

Of course, most of us, who have health insurance, are mired in a bureaucratic nightmare of private health insurance companies, limiting our access to care, dictating our costs, dictating what procedures we can have. But for some reason, this is good.

It is a bunch of malarky. The real truth is: The only ones who stand to lose by this are the insurance companies. And even then, they only lose if they refuse to change the way they do business.

Health insurance is not a sacred cow. It is simply an industry that arose when an opportunity to make a profit presented itself.

Is it really necessary for a company to make a profit while the physicians, patients, and other health care professionals pay for it?

I say no. Health insurance is not a necessity. Affordable, accessible health care is.