Health Care

President Obama is at it again today, this time with a tele-conference with the AARP. I have pretty much heard it all before, so I'm not going to waste my time tuning in on it. No doubt the talking heads will disgorge the highlights, if any, over the course of the evening news. He probably thinks that if he stays in our face with this stuff, we will come around to his way of thinking. In my case, its not goin' to happen.

OK, here is my view. We need to do something about health care in our country, but we do not have to completely dismantle and remake the best care in the world. Directly put, we simply do not have the money to do what Obama wants to do. And, this is so complicated that it should not have to be approved by this weekend, without the scrutiny that such legislation demands. Instead, let's just put all this into the wastebasket and start over. So, how could we just improve on the system we have? I have said before that having all the records on an electronic database is a good idea for a number of reasons. Doctors would benefit greatly from this setup and should be willing to ante up most of the money to convert to the new system. The doctors would have a bit more money to spend on their records if their malpractice premiums were not so high. It would make total sense to put some restrictions on potential lawsuits. Obama has said flat out that he would not consider tort reform in his plan. Can't tick off all the lawyers that contributed to his campaign to get elected - what other reason could there be? And maybe we need to put a few more watchdogs on the payroll to make sure that all payments to providers are legitimate ones. I heard that fraudulent claims on Medicare and Medicaid alone in New York City are estimated at ten percent of the total claims paid there. If the public has to pay for the health care of poor people anyway, let's figure out a way to do it somewhere other than hospital emergency rooms.

This is just a beginning list of things that could be done to improve and cut waste from the system we have now, and it wouldn't bankrupt our country in one fell swoop. I really get nervous when I hear our representatives talking about taxing everything including soda pop and candy bars just to pay for this wild boondoggle that most of the American people don't want. That is true - the polls are showing that the people are overwhelmingly against the package that is now under consideration. So, if this is really a government of the people, by the people and for the people, the powers that be have no choice but to hit the "Delete" button and start over.