So I have probably made my stand on this issue seem pretty foggy since I have argued for one side in my posts then the other in my comments left on Facebook.  Well, I have been on both sides because at this point I don’t think I am on either side.

Here’s what I see happening now: People with employer provided health care have a program that works ok.  Some pay a lot for their families but don’t do much about it.  There are those that have great health insurance and don’t pay for anything ever.  There are others that feel that there should be a better option for them because they either don’t have insurance through an employer (maybe carrying 2 or 3 part time jobs) and they can’t afford anything more than an Urgent Care visit or stopping by a Minute Clinic.  And all of them are into this debate because everyone is afraid they have something to loose.

This collage of programs and the current system is a self defeating one in light of our existing ‘free market’ mentality.  Once upon a time congress got excited about this thing called an HMO.  Kaiser was the mastermind of this thing and they are still the shining star for what the HMO can be and is.  HMO’s have an all-inclusive model where everything is included.  Labs, tests, doctor visits, hospitalization, etc.  No one in the program pays for much of anything out of pocket because its all covered by the monthly premium.  If you don’t know this, that premium is pretty big even if you aren’t the one footing the bill.  As people got comfortable with the idea of everything being included and there being a large system that managed their care for them the system got larger and more expensive.  Expense grew for the end user because unlike everyhting else in our lives, we stopped shopping around and letting a ‘free market’ mentality keep costs down.  Now here we are with a very expensive system and we are all a flutter about overhauling it and spending public funds to make sure more people can have this program.  At least thats what it looks like

So enrolling everyone in a public system ranging from public insurance company to single payer health care seems like a good idea except every time we look at the options they are very expensive.  I wonder why they have to be compared to those of other countries.  What is so different here.  I suppose I just don’t know what is so different.  Probably the biggest thing that makes everything look so expensive is the massive military machine that we fund.  That is another topic that I don’t really intend to address, ever.

Perhaps what needs to happen is for the American public to begin to see health insurance the same way they see car insurance and home insurance.  It is there to cover the catastrophic or at least the things that we determine that we could not afford.  Paying for a checkup isn’t very expensive when its on a modest health care plan.  Neither are well baby visits.  Urgent care offices and things like Minute Clinics are great for the small needs and there is no point in getting your insurance involved with those types of things.  We need to learn to shop around not just for what we think are consumer goods, but for our health insurance and doctors because at the end of the day - those are consumer goods as well.  If a people determined to support themselves and take FULL responsibility for their own well being, health and actions were unleashed I suspect this debate would become uninteresting.

So thats it, three long posts is all I intend to write on this topic from now on.  To those that are mad about death panels and denying care to the elderly based on their productivity to society, stop letting your imagination run away.  To those that insist that without government run health care we live in an unjust world and think the government needs to teach us that health care is a basic human right, stop indicting those that want to be left alone to care for themselves and their own families.  It is little more than you want for yourselves.

Continue discussing this with your friends and family and neighbors but stop spreading obvious hysteria and grossly slanted, doom and gloom projections for and against.  Use facts, use reason, use convictions and put the boogy man back in the closet.