The So Called Heath Care Crisis

The President of the United States, every democratic politician, and many folks I know, are screaming that we have a health care crisis in the United States. Whoa! A health care crisis? I don’t think so. We do have health cost and coverage issues, but they are problems, not crises. I don’t see how something that has been on the table and discussed for 25 years can be seen as a crisis. Oh, wait. I do know. This is yet another “crisis” manufactured by politicians in order to speed through their unpalatable agenda before a real national debate can occur and the people can digest the issues.

In fact, we have the best health care in the world, witness all the muckety-mucks from all over the world coming here for critical care. How many of our muckety-mucks go abroad for health care? Some of us do go abroad for medical procedures or drugs, but only to save money. Americans do not seriously believe they will receive better heath care abroad, just cheaper heath care. Ask yourself, if you get some horrible disease or suffer some terrible injury, would you rather be treated at Mass General, the Mayo Clinic, or any of dozens of other great medical centers here in the U.S., or, would you rather be treated in Spain, or Sweden, or India, or Mexico, or anywhere else? For fabulous health care, this is the place – the good old U.S.A.

So, we do not have a heath care crisis. In fact, we have the best health care in the world, but our health care system is not perfect. There are problems (not crises), and the major ones are two-fold: our health care costs too much, and some of us are either uninsured or underinsured (that’s the 45 million you hear about so often).

The Obama administration and the Democratic leadership are pushing with all their might to address these issues by throwing out our present, mostly private, heath care coverage system and replacing it with a public national heath care system. Seriously? About 75% of us are perfectly satisfied with our present insurance coverage. Our only complaint is that the costs keep rising. Hey Washington, here’s a piece of advice from an engineer and businessman. Fit the solution to the problem. Do not impose a 100% solution to fix a 25% problem. When a system is working fine 75% of the time, do not attempt to fix the 25% problem by throwing out the entire system and starting over. Bulletin: your new system will inevitably cost too much and it will have problems of its own! For example, if your house has a plumbing problem, do not tear it down and build a new house. Fix the plumbing. If you build a new house, it will cost more that you thought and it will have problems of its own. In the case of health care in the U.S., we need to address the rising costs, not build a whole new system. Even the Congressional Budget Office, congress’ own accountants, agree that Obamacare will greatly increase health care costs. Hello Mr. President, the goal is to lower costs and maintain top notch care. Your plan increases costs and decreases care.

What about the 45 million that we keep hearing about who do not have coverage? As most folks have already heard, recent studies have shown that more than 10 million of these are illegal aliens, millions more are healthy young people who freely choose not to pay for coverage, millions more are workers who are between jobs and choose not to pay for the COBRA coverage that is available to them, etc., etc.. In the end, there are about 10 – 15 million actual Americans who cannot get or afford heath insurance. There can be no doubt we must do something about these unfortunate folks. We must care for the least of us. So, let’s see. 15 million is about 5% of our population. Obama wants to throw out the entire system to fix a 5% problem? Here’s another bulletin: just provide national coverage for the 5%! Don’t impose a national health care system on the rest of us! If you want to raise my taxes to pay for the 5%, go for it. I should and I will pay. But do not endanger my excellent health care and my excellent heath care coverage and force me and my grandchildren to pay for a national health care system that we do not need, we do not want, and we cannot afford! If the bathwater is dirty, change the water; do not throw out the tub and the baby!

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