DAY 114 – Healthcare: Let’s Work Together

The GOP majority in the US House of Representatives recently voted to repeal last year’s healthcare reforms, and I think it was unfortunate that they did.

We the people have two basic choices as it relates to healthcare; every person for her/himself, or work together.

For-profit insurance companies have an easier time making lots of money when we choose option one. In fact, we make a two-step process into a one-step for them. They don’t have to divide in order to conquer, they can sit back and let us divide ourselves, and then they conquer. Conquering, in the insurance industry, often means using whatever techniques necessary to not pay legitimate claims and see what  busy working people can do to protect themselves.

I want to be fair and acknowledge that there must be some honest and caring insurers, but as a doctor for 28 years, I saw first-hand enough abuse by insurance companies, that after 10 years, I terminated most contracts that I had with them.

We all understand that our government exists because our forebearers did not like the idea of every person for him/herself, and chose instead to work together. And, of course, we know that today we work together and pool our resources to maintain our national defense, police, fire protection, courts, and other services. We also provide healthcare to our elderly through Medicare, and to the poor through Medicaid.

There is no question that some government bureaucracies can be dysfunctional and even rude, but I will take that risk any day to the for-profit divide-and-conquer of the health insurance industry.

Many countries in Europe pay half as much as we do for care that is better than ours. In part, they achieve this by pooling their resources and working together.

If I were elected to the House of Representatives, I would vote for continuing, not repealing, the reform of our healthcare system. I would vote for working together!