I've had my share of bad experiences with the health care system. Fortunately none of them have resulted in any permanent damage or loss of a loved one. But my run ins pale in comparison to the recently reported tragic story of a California teenager. A 17 year old girl required a liver transplant to save her life. Her health insurer (Cigna) refused to approve the procedure. The doctors at the hospital where she was being treated appealed the decision. Cigna reversed the decision, but unfortunately they did so too late. Nataline Sarkisyan died, or more precisely she was killed by a system where profits are more important than life.
I have a sickening feeling that Nataline's is just one of a multitude of victims of our health care system. Normally I'm a big fan of the free enterprise system. After all it has brought us $29 DVD players, $5 calculators and an amazing standard of life. But what that system has not brought us is good health care. American health care is great if you are rich, a government employee(Senators and Congressmen especially) and below a certain BMI (body mass index). I bet if Teddy Kennedy needed a liver transplant(by the looks of him he might) there would be not even a moments hesitation to give him the treatment he required (I wonder if Mary Jo Kopechne had good insurance). There are a few thing that just don't lend themselves to the open market system. It's like making a square peg fit a round hole, oh you make it fit but you're going to get some splinters.
When it's time to get my oil change I shop around. I look for the best price or the best value. If I break a leg or need a prostate exam I don't have that luxury. I have to put not only my health care in someones else's hands but my financial health as well. The free enterprise system has no opportunity to function. No chance to drive down prices or improve quality. In just about every industry the system works beautifully, except health care. With my car I have a host of service offering competitors all fighting for the chance to top off my petroleum distillates. Ailments of the human body aren't that easy to standardize. I don't think you are going to see a big menu board ala McDonald's with things like: Appendectomy $399.99 with coupon $249.99 or a two for on special on a mother daughter hysterectomy.
Some things like national defense and the postal service just don't lend themselves to a for profit business model. And I think that health care should be added to that short list. Decisions being made about my health should be made by myself and my by attending physician, not by an accountant or a medical shill in the employ of an insurance company.
I've saved the biggest obscenity for last; The CEO of Cigna receives over $21,000,000 a year in total compensation. He received that princely sum not for how many lives he saved but for how much money the company made. I just don't see where the system is working. It's busted.It's defective. It's fubared. I't screwed up. It's bungoed. It's fouled up. It's comin' up short. In other words we as a nation need some fresh thinking when it come to health care . Frankly I don't know if a full blown nationalized system is the answer or not. All I can tell you is that I will be paying particular attention to all the various and sundry ideas being espoused by the current crop of presidential hopefuls. How about you?
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