Study abroad for health care answers

Health care is out of control when at least 40 million people, including my household, are without good quality health care that the president and Congress currently enjoy. The solution to health care is to start regulating fees down to outpatient amounts, such as $400 for an MRI, instead of the high-profit hospital fee of $1,000 for the same MRI.

Today, the hospitals in DuPage County are similar to the palaces that billionaires live in. The hospitals are making too much profit. Congress should pass federal regulation reducing all operating costs by 25 to 50 percent at all U.S. hospitals. Presently, it is cheaper to pay a funeral bill than a hospital bill.

Tort reform is also due for an overhaul. For example, insurance on a doctor's private practice in the Chicago metro area is roughly $27,000 a year. To insure the same doctor's private practice in the Milwaukee metro area, costs are roughly $3,000 a year. The reason for the huge difference in insurance premiums is that Wisconsin places settlement caps on suffering and/or punitive damages, and Illinois does not.

Also, we should review the Swedish, French, German and Swiss plans, which are nationalized and/or privatized plans, then cherry pick the positive aspects of those plans that would benefit the U.S. taxpayers, and eliminate the negative aspects that would cost U.S. taxpayers 10 to 20 percent of their annual income.

In addition, review the Canadian and British nationalized health care features that save money. For example, Canada purchases pharmaceutical drugs at deep discount prices, much in the same high-volume purchase arrangement that the Veterans Administration purchases its pharmaceutical drugs.

Phil Heirendt

Warrenville