Capitalism, Government and Health Care

I am a fiscal conservative. I am at odds with Capitalists and the free market crowd about health care even though I strongly believe in Capitalism and am a die hard Milton Friedman fan.

I think the health care industry in this country is, careful here as not to offend, a disaster. While maybe not a social liberal I am when it comes to health care. Insurance companies have a great racket going. So do a lot of the medical care facilities and personal.

The medical community for not standing up to the insurance companies, for letting people die because they can’t afford to live and all the little crooked things they do, like charging to fix their own mistakes. We as consumers are at the complete mercy of the system. You have to pay what they charge you, right or wrong. In most cases it’s not feasible to sue. No one in the Government will stand with you.

I have heard stories about people who have been paying into their insurance company for decades then when they need it the insurers search and find ways not to pay. We should be ashamed!

An excerpt from a letter a Doctor friend wrote;

“Stories are everywhere about middle class hard working people who have paid their health insurance premiums all their life being denied coverage due to a number of legal loopholes the insurance companies have. Preexisting conditions. Hogwash! A famous example is a woman in her 40s who paid into her BC/BS (?California) for an individual policy for two decades; Dx breast cancer. Denied all coverage for treatment of this because she has a pre cancerous skin lesion on her face AS A TEENAGER. Cancer of the skin is a totally different disease than breast cancer. As it turned out the distant skin condition was not cancer, nor precancerous…a misdiagnosis yet they still got away with denying coverage. She testified last spring before congress and got almost no publicity about her case. You may have insurance however you may not be covered. That’s the long and short of it. People sit around and feel smug that THEY have health insurance; if something serious develops in their health history they very well may not be covered.”

I’ve seen the Swedish system at work, and while that may not be the one for this country, it is something good.

Washington should be ashamed of this plan they drafted that does nothing to fix what’s wrong. Maybe the current administration is right. Maybe just getting something started that can be tweaked and built upon. I’ll be satisfied with that for now. Although I don’t like it, but something needs to be done.

I am involved politically. I write my representatives, attend meetings, pay attention, VOTE, and even spend some time in Topeka during legislative session. The American people need to be more involved in their Government. I do think our system is the best there is, and I do love my country but I have to disagree somewhat about the honesty and integrity of most of our public officials.

Like an unsupervised child I believe they will get away with anything they can, and not always to the benefit of the country. Yes, buisness and indivduals are the same way, but when Government and business work together, individuals don’t stand a chance. That is why the people need to work together and be involved. When I preach involvement I don’t preach a certain philosophy or “party”, I preach that what ever your beliefs, let them be known.

As a side note; I am distressed that when something horrific happens in a foreign land we are so eager and visibly proud to run to the rescue, and fast, as I believe we should, but when a disaster happens in

our own country and people are needlessly dieing in the streets while the Government stands around wondering …what? Whose fault it is? Think New Orleans.

If nothing else a Governments responsibility is to protect it’s citizens. In fact, that is a Governments one and most important duty. Insuring that the people have their constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.