The health care bill in Congress right now is a giant waste of time. By the time it is watered down enough to pass the Senate, it will be an expenditure bill that will do nothing to fix the problem of out of control health care costs in this country.
There are 2 big problems with health care in this country: It costs way too much and it leaves far too many people vulnerable or completely unable to get health care. We spend 16% of GDP for health care, while the rest of the rich world spends 10% or less, and we get worse results. The folks you hear on TV telling you we have the best health care system in the world are rich and have great insurance.....it is a great system for them. But tell that to the estimated 700,000 Americans who go bankrupt every year because of medical bills.
The current bill, and I haven't read the whole thing, appears to spend money to cover more people, and has provisions that will make it harder for the health insurance industry to screw us. But it completely fails to attack the huge waste in administrative costs (about 25% of private health insurance dollars) or change the system in which doctors get more money for more procedures.
It is not surprising that the politicians don't have the guts to blow up the system and start over, which is what is needed. We need radical change, not a bit of fiddling that is designed not to offend anyone who is currently making their living off our warped system.
Want some good ideas on what we should do? Watch the Frontline show "Sick Around the World" at PBS.
1 comment:
I keep telling people about healthcare here in South Korea - I pay $50 a month out of my paycheck for coverage - I understand that should i get sick I am expected to pay 20% of the cost - when I went to get my pre-employment physical I didn't need an appointment, it took half an hour where they did bloodwork, took ex-rays, tested my eyes, just about everything and it cost me $30 which included a follow-up consultation with the doctor - a friend of mine just experienced chest pains and simply went to his local clinic where he received an EKG, stress-test and xrays in under an hour without needing an appointment and the whole trip cost him $8.30 including the needed meds for a pulled rib muscle - I have never experienced such good and efficient health care in my life
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