Health Care????

OK...first off, I don't have any real answers to the health care situation. I admit that. Ideas, opinions, and feelings, I do have those. Answers are harder though. I believe that in order to have answers, first the question must be understood. I can see by reading the news that most people are trying to solve the problem without knowing just what that problem is. I am still considering just what that problem is myself.

A little history, back in the early 60's when I got married, health insurance was not a real big expense. I suppose that treatment was not really a big expense either, but as I was young and healthy at that time, I don't really remember. I got health insurance because my Children were likely to have need of medical treatment from time to time.

As time passed the percentage of my income that health care used, became more, even though my income generally increased. I remember thinking that medical expenses were rising way too fast. I believed then (and I still do believe) that the main reason for that rapid increase was because more and more people had health care insurance, and that insurance was paying pretty well. About this time the auto makers had decided to make health care insurance a part of wages. That was not the case with the bank at which my wife worked however. We still had to pay our own health insurance. Once my kids were grown and on their own, health insurance had become a major expense, more than half of my monthly draw. Even though agriculture is a dangerous profession, we decided that we could not afford health insurance. So we dropped out, becoming uninsured. We remained that way until I went to work for an agricultural retailer, who included that as part of the wages. I changed jobs but was still covered under an employer payed health care plan. I am still in fact, as part of my pension. I am so lucky!

Now to get the todays issue. What should be done about a health care system that has become so very expensive, one that asks first how the bill will be paid, rather than what is the health issue?

Mr Obama promised 'health care for all', or at least that is what the promise sounded like. Giving credit where credit is due, it appears he is trying to deliver on that promise. But this is a entrepreneurial economic country, more or less. Which can be interpreted several ways. What that means politically, I believe, is that much money is spent on our legislators to insure that legislation will be favorable to a particular enterprise. In this case, that would be health care providers. I do not believe that any particular political party is more guilty of accepting this money than any other. It is the way things are done, period. Another rant will consider that situation, I promise

Today it appears that Mr Obama is willing to 'compromise' and be willing to accept a health care packaged that does not include a government paid insurance. I think that is a wrong decision. I don't think any program without that provision will likely not be beneficial to us as consumers. If the government is not 'involved' there will be no checks and balances on health care expense to us the consumer. The insurance companies will be free to continue to raise rates at a phenomenal rate. There will be no relief for those who cannot afford insurance, but at least the health care industry's profits will be ensured.

I have also followed the controversy over whether or not a disproportionate amount of health care was going to 'people who have less value to society'. That would be the old and the poor, I would assume. Mr Obama has been accused of just wanting to let people over 65 just die, at least be the old folks at McDonald's in the morning. He has denied that allegation, but both parties ideas contain a formula to determine the worth of the patient. That sounds pretty awful...it Is awful. It is not anything that should be considered in America at all. That it may be being considered is just sad. My heart aches that the people we elected to serve as legislators should have forgotten the basis of America. That basis is not that all people are entitled to health care, but that all people are of intrinsic value...all men are created equal.

I fear that any health care packaged 'compromise' will 'compromise' many Americans out of health care. It might mandate that one must carry health care insurance, which does nothing but make sure that the insurance companies have a ready supply of money at hand. Any health care packaged that only provides for the insurance companies and not the insured is just not good for America or Americans. What is good for those businesses is not necessarily good for us citizens. I fear that there will be such a provision in the 'compromise', and I fear the effects of that provision .

It would be safe to say that I have little confidence in the ability or desire of our legislature to actually solve the health care problem in America.

I hope I am wrong...