Health care status quo is unhealthy
On July 19, another column from Right Wing World appeared from John Stossel, who can always be counted on to back big business and whatever schemes the Republicans come up with to bilk the middle class yet again.
He describes his interview with Michael Moore regarding his movie "SiCKO." Stossel really had nothing intelligent to say and his first line of attack was to insult Moore about his weight. Pretty classy. So what is Stossel's take on the problem?
Why it's because of those "government mandates, over-regulation, and a tax code" that "prevents the free market from performing its efficient miracles," and the government not getting out of the way.
Noticeably absent from his free market argument was any encouragement to allow Americans to buy their prescriptions from Canada to force American drug companies to lower their prices.
Two of the most bogus arguments on which Right Wing World has sold the American people a bill of goods on are: 1) if you let the free market work its miracles, businesses will compete to offer consumers the best service at the lowest possible price; and, 2) if you deregulate, you will encourage competition and the price will go down.
When was the last time the big oil companies competed to sell us gasoline at the lowest possible price? Or the pharmaceutical or insurance companies? And did deregulation lead to cheaper cable television bills? Lower electric bills? Lower gas bills?
The problems with our health care system are numerous, one of which is that it was a huge mistake to begin with to introduce profit into it. HMOs are a relatively recent creation that basically profit by taking your money and then using any excuse they can think of to deny claims by members.
People started suing HMOs over these denials and Republican congresses responded by enacting laws eliminating your right to sue them over their denials.
Half of all bankruptcy filings are due to medical bills that insurance didn't cover, so a Republican Congress in 2005 fixed that problem by making it more difficult to discharge them in bankruptcy.
The statistic often mentioned is that 45 million to 50 million Americans have no health insurance. But how many millions more of us have lousy health insurance with high deductibles and co-pays, and are basically paying premiums to be uninsured?
People put off doctor visits out of fear of ringing up a massive bill they can't afford to pay. The time is now to put into place a health care system that benefits ordinary Americans.
Charles E. Crouse
Elgin