Yes, We Need Health Care Reform

The whole deal about death counseling for seniors is a hugely distorted lie being spread by Betsy McCaughey via email from Fred Thompson (one of many being spread by the right wing regarding health care reform).  As I understand it, it all stems from a proposal in the reform plan to offer financial assistance to create a “living will”.  That’s something we all should have in case of accidents, etc, no matter how old we are. 

Here’s another side of the story about Health care reform besides the one being circulated via email.  Health care reform is not a Liberal vs. Conservative issue. We must all ask ourselves “Who benefits?” when confronted with issues such as this.  Who benefits from “no reform”? Many in congress receive HUGE contributions from the present health care industry giants, like big pharmaceutical companies, and big insurance companies.  Who benefits from “reform”? Almost all of us average US citizens AND our children and grandchildren.

Health care in the US must be (and will be) reformed no matter what.  The costs are just becoming more and more ridiculous as time goes by.  Something must be done as more and more people are spending more and more money on less and less effective insurance and more and more people are losing health care altogether.  The free market ideal is just not working for health care.  Most authorities agree that we are spending twice as much (or more) on health care as other industrialized countries and all the statistics are worse than them in regard to adolescent mortality, life expectancy and other factors.

By the way, more US cars are being built in Windsor, Ontario than are being built just across the river in Detroit.  Why?  According to auto execs - less costly health care insurance in Canada.  We spent four winters with a group of retired Canadians in Southern California.  I made a point of engaging them in friendly discussions about their health care.  With the exception of one person who didn’t know the facts about American health care, they all were very enthusiastic about the Canadian plan.

We can’t afford not to reform health care in America.  The cost of goods in the US has a higher percentage of costs related to health care than any other industrialized nation.  No wonder we’re falling behind so fast!

The U.S. has the most bureaucratic health care system in the world. More than 31 percent of every dollar spent on health care in the U.S. goes to paperwork, overhead, CEO salaries, profits, etc. The provincial single-payer system in Canada operates with just a 1 percent overhead. Think about it -  it is not necessary to spend a huge amount of money to decide who gets care and who doesn't when everybody is covered.
Like it or not, there will be health care reform.
Get ready.
Peace.