The Health Care Scrap

Everyone I know seems to be arguing about this. I can’t escape the debate; it’s even on Facebook.

I know that folks never want to alter the status quo. I guess this stems from an attitude that if change starts, it won’t stop. Women will get the vote, Arizona will become a state. God only knows what will befall us once we start down that slippery slope.

One of the most common things shrieked at me by those against health care reform is “The United States has the best health care in the world.” Really? My contention is maybe this is true, but most of us don’t get it. If you live in South Succotash and you have a heart ailment, odds are you aren’t going to get treated by Vice President Cheney’s cardiologist. If you break your leg, you are not going to see Brett Farve’s orthopedist. The bottom line is YOU can’t afford the best health care.

This is another reason for medical tourism, and it’s like that beer ad: BETTER quality, LESS money. Anyone with a brain needing a liver transplant isn’t going to shell out the hundred grand US health insurance companies want to charge for “experimental” surgery when they can go to India or Thailand and get it done by experienced specialists for only twenty grand or so. Money talks, BS walks. When it comes to YOUR health care, it should be about the best care at the best price. People keep telling me folks from other countries are flocking here to pay sixty grand for an operation they can have at home for free. Sure, I see this all the time. I saw a pig fly too. A monkey was riding him. He waved at me.

And what’s with the crazy costs for drugs in the US? If we have such great health care, why are the same drugs cheaper in Mexico and Canada? Surely WE can do better.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY ran an insane editorial saying that the UK’s National Health Service would have considered Stephen Hawking’s life worthless because of his physical handicaps. Stephen Hawking, a British citizen and, of course, covered by the NHS, himself spoke out saying that the NHS saved his life. The IBD corrected part of it’s editorial, but they still don’t seem to get the point; read for yourself.

Yes, the claims are getting crazy. I just wonder how many folks will actually back up their jingoism by choosing the higher prices the current system imposes on us all.