Cut out insurers as medical middle men

In response to Bob Lambert's Oct. 15 letter, which advocated health savings accounts, I have to say his plan was fairly well thought out and contains some interesting ideas.

But I must question one of his basic premises: "Socialized medicine creates many problems."

What are they? In his column "Socialized medicine snake oil" in the Nov. 13 Washington Post, Eugene Robinson cites results of a study conducted earlier this year of the health care systems in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Germany, Britain, New Zealand and the Netherlands by the Commonwealth Fund, a charitable foundation with an interest in health care issues dating to 1918.

"According to the survey, 80 percent of Americans have a regular doctor. That sounds pretty good, until you learn 84 percent of Canadians, 88 percent of Australians, 89 percent of New Zealanders and Brits, 92 percent of Germans and 100 percent of Dutch respondents surveyed said they had regular doctors.

"The survey found 49 percent of Americans said they could get a same-day or next-day doctor's appointment when they were sick, as opposed to 75 percent of respondents in New Zealand, 65 percent in Germany, 58 percent in Britain and so on. Only in Canada was it more difficult to see a doctor within 48 hours."

It gets even more interesting when the study looked at costs.

"The United States spends $6,697 per capita annually on health care … more than twice as much as any of the other countries surveyed. Americans were much more likely than any other group to have spent at least $1,000 out of pocket on medical expenses over the past year. And, of course, 16 percent of Americans reported being uninsured, as opposed to essentially none in the other countries.

And then there's the bottom line.

"The United States ranks dead last in life expectancy, at 77.9 years, among the countries surveyed. Britain is next to last at 78.7, while Australia is first at 80.6.

"The United States also has the worst infant mortality by far, at 6.89 per 1,000 live births; second-worst is New Zealand at 5.7. We're paying more and dying more, or at least sooner."

The reason we have such high costs for health care in the U.S. is because we employ the services of a middleman in the form of insurance companies.

Stop using fear as an excuse for settling for less.

Michael Franquelli

Elgin