The Health Care Crisis

According to my Facebook site, many of my friends are against "government run health care." Frankly, the thought of government running anything makes me sick too, but lately we've seen evidence that the private sector cannot be trusted. The financial crisis and the ensuing bailout of the banks will hopefully be studied for years. Banks should either be regulated or no bailout money. You either want the handout or you want hands off. You can't asked daddy for $100, then when he asks you why, you tell him none of your business. Okay, I digress.

The healthcare system is another example of private companies becoming greedy over time because they see that "hey, we can make money off this thing." In collusion with drug and medical device manufacturers, hospitals, doctors, etc. they can jack up the prices of drugs and procedures. Furthermore, the MO at many insurance companies is to make the lives of it's customers very difficult by declining to pay for procedures, then sticking it to the customer. When the customer calls to see what happened, the idiot (or scammer) on the line says there was a processing error and it will take another 30 days to fix, and this goes on until the customer gives up (or dies). Such a situation happened to me and my family. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of NC made our lives difficult trying to collect back $3000 for something they should have paid. We didn't get it back. This is PRIVATE sector, not government. Though, it seems like something you'd experience at the DMV or social security office. Meanwhile, the CEO of BCBSNC is making $8M a year. How much worse could government run healthcare be? At least, they'd keep costs down and force the drug makers, hospitals, etc. to keep down their costs.

I don't know if government run healthcare is the answer, but the current system sucks. I believe if people want to buy private insurance, they should have that right. If companies want to provide insurance for their employees, they should have that right. However, all Americans (especially children) should have guaranteed coverage. Also, it should be illegal for insurance companies to gouge consumers and refuse to pay for procedures for which they are supposed to pay. I would love to see the healthcare industry experience what the financial and automotive industries experienced. Then, they'd have no choice but to let the government take over. You want bailout money? Okay, now we own you.