We hear a lot about government health care in this years presidential race. But we really need to be focusing on why our health care is so expensive. If you don't eliminate or reduce unnecessary expenses, and then add a government bureaucracy, you will end up with a broke system with poor service and long waiting list to get important care.

The first place to look is at the health insurance companies and their business practices. How many people have gotten a letter from their doctor saying that their insurance company refused to pay a medical bill due to some technicality? Then you have to call the company and challenge their decision. In almost all cases they agree to pay the bill but then you have to call your doctor and have them re-bill the insurance. All of this takes time and manpower and that adds to the cost of health care. I knew a doctor that was once owed $100,000 by one of the insurance companies. The company kept refusing the bills based on technicalities on the insurance forms. His office had to keep making corrections and then re-billing the insurance only to find out that the forms had been changed and needed to be re-submitted. Even though the insurance company kept putting off paying the bills, they reported the income to the IRS. So not only did the doctor have to spend time and money to get paid, he also had to deal with the IRS trying to collect on money he was not paid. Who pays for this? Yep, you and me.

So if you want to reduce the cost of health care, you need to stop this practice by insurance companies that creates a wasteful level bureaucracy onto every health care visit. I believe the government should enforce a standard insurance form that all insurance companies, hospitals, and doctors should use. That would help streamline a process that has become too burdensome all doctors, patients, and our society.

The next thing to do is reign in the lawyers, we have all heard of unnecessary test that doctors order just to cover themselves in case of a lawsuit. Too many times are medical decisions made based on liability and not on medical practice. Let our doctors treat patients to the best of their ability without the fear of frivolous and exorbitant lawsuits.

Without health care reform, there will be no way to provide universal coverage. With meaningful health care reform, there may be no need for a large government run health care program. Of course the Marxist don't want to see meaningful health care reform because that may interfere with there desire to turn our country into a communist state.

- Thomas Paine 2

Technorati Tags: health care costs, national health care, politics, socialised medicine, socialism, health care reform