A tough pill to swallow

Some of you may not know, but my tendencies tend to be Republican. Overall, I'm an independent. I like to look at candidates individually and don't necessarily agree with entire party philosophies. But overall, I lean Republican.

It probably comes of having a father who's a loud Republican, who is himself a result of a father who was a loud Democrat. My father, in turn, produced my sister, who is a pretty devoted Democrat. Which of course led her daughter, my niece, to develop pretty staunch Republican tendencies by the tender age of 13. It's a vicious cycle. Of which, I've happily broken free.

The only time that I saw my father embrace something even mildly Democrat-ish, was when we were in Spain and Nathan got sick. We were directed to a hospital, where Nathan was x-rayed (twice!), and hooked up to an IV, while we waited for hours. As it turns out, he was only dehyrated, but since he was also diabetic, we wanted to be sure. At the end of the visit, I asked the doctor where to pay the bill. At first, she didn't understand our question. When I asked again, she shook her head and said, "No pay." I shrugged and walked out. When I told my father, his eyes got wide, and he said, "Hey, that's great! Let's get out of here quick!"

Since then, my father thinks that social medicine is a fantastic idea. You'd be hard-pressed to talk him out of it. I know that these things come at a great expense though: taxes. When I was traveling in Germany, I talked to someone who was telling me how great American colleges were and he wanted to go. And I told him how lucky that German colleges were free for him to attend. He responded that they weren't free - income tax is 70%! This is what the govt takes to pay for colleges, health care, roads, and all the other things that govt takes care of.

I had to ask myself if I wanted free college, free health care, paid vacations, and year-long maternity leaves, and all that other great stuff, at a cost of 70% of my salary? I don't know - it's a tough question.

This is really at the heart of all these people causing an uproar in all these town meetings. I couldn't understand why all of these people were so angry about universally available and affordable health care and health insurance. The very idea made them angry. The idea! It's still just an idea that the president has thrown out there and they are angry enough to cause violence.

"Death panels?" Please, they don't like the idea that the government will say, "we can pay for this; we cannot pay for that?" That already happens! If it's not insurance companies doing it, it's your own wallet! Right now, I have to decide whether I'm going to get a longer-lasting, but more expensive implant for my tooth, OR the less-reliable, but more affordable crown. Incidentally, at the expense of new tires for my car. It's a comfort to know that when my car slides across the highway and I'm killed in a particularly bad snow storm this winter, that my teeth will look great. I'm going to start calling it my "death wallet."

And there you have it. People are angry because they don't want the govt to say "the cost of this health care is too much." Neither do they want to fork over 70% of their salary to hear, "you can have any health care you want."

I am angry. I'm very angry. And if you know me, you know that I've always been angry about this. Why doesn't anyone say, "you can have any health care you want and it's not going to cost you 70% of your salary for life?"

Because NO ONE is willing to tell a doctor or a hospital or a medical supply company or malpractice insurance company or ANYONE else in the medical field (even amongst themselves), "you are OVERPRICED!" for fear that they will compromise the quality of care that they receive. They are hiding behind a veil of heroism and respectability, while they conduct a business of saving lives. A business!!! Does anyone want to compare the number of service industries that have lowered prices in the recession and are therefore paying less to employees, or even laying them off, vs. the number of medical businesses/vendors/suppliers/doctors that have lowered prices in the recession? I'll bet money that the cost of medical services, and its inflation, does not mirror the economy AT ALL.

I don't know what's going to happen. But if we're going to have the kind of affordable health care that the UK, Spain, Germany, Australia, Canada, and a number of other wealthy countries have, the government is going to have to step in and subsidize. And by subsidize, I mean, control prices. When the cost of everything can be reduced, from the company that washes the linens, to the malpractice insurance, then we just might have a shot of keeping everyone healthy.