Will doctors go the way of good barbers?

Went to my barber to get a haircut the other day and upon entering shop, saw there were two gentlemen ahead of me. One appeared to be in his early 20s. He was telling the barber, Mick, that he had recently moved into the area and was disappointed in his first haircut experience at one of the national chains and was hoping that Mick could fix it. As Mick finished, the young man said he was glad he had found a true barbershop and asked how much he owed. He said it was a little bit more than he paid at the chain, but it was worth it to get his hair cut by a professional barber, as there aren’t many left anymore.

This made me think of my conversation with the guy who serviced our furnace who mentioned how disgusted he was with the president’s health care program, for as a one-man operation he is self-insured and his premiums were going to increase from around $1,000 up to over $2,500 per month. To make matters worse, his doctor told him he was debating whether to accept that type of insurance.

As I sat in the barber chair, a thought occurred that the new health care program was kind of like the haircut chain and that Mick, my barber for close to 40 years, was kind of like a doctor. Seems that we won’t have any independent barbers and not as many doctors to choose from and will have to settle for national chain for a haircut and a national health care program where we will wait to see a doctor assistant for our care. We are losing our right to choose. Please consider this the next time you vote or when you venture out for your next haircut!

Joe Littwin

Palatine