Go back to basics in health care debate

The health care debate has degenerated into a political nightmare. Too much time is being spent simply trying to win and not addressing the underlying problems. I would hope that this summer's outcry would prompt our political leaders to go back to the basics. First, the law of supply and demand applies to health care just as it does in many other markets. The only way we can reduce the costs of health insurance is to reduce the underlying costs of delivering health care. One issue that has been mostly forgotten is the supply of medical professionals.

Without an appropriate availability of resources, no system will function effectively. We know that too many people go to emergency rooms for nonemergency care. In some of these cases they choose this approach because they can't get a timely appointment with their primary physician. Simple economics tells us that by restricting supply, prices inevitably increase. We must determine how to increase the supply of quality, dedicated medical professionals before we can hope to reduce the cost of health care delivery.

Second, consumer markets must have transparency and personal responsibility to throttle runaway price increases. Today, most people get their health insurance through their employers, which they pay through payroll deductions. If they get sick, they go to the doctor's office (or the emergency room), pay the co-pay, get a prescription and pay another co-pay. How many of them know the true cost of their insurance or all these services and products? How many of them "shop around" to find the best value for the services and products? How many people review and question hospital bills?

Instead of arguing about health czars and creating 1,017-page Rube Goldbergesque "reform" bills, why don't our representatives start addressing the basic principles first? Isn't that why we elected them and pay their salaries?

Roger Willis

Naperville