by Tina Grazier
We’re told that a nationalized health care reform bill won’t end up costing taxpayers more. This miracle will be achieved in part, it is said, by savings gained when patients get adequate check ups and screening and adopt healthier habits. It sounds good and probably pencils out on paper. The problem with this theory is that it presupposes that behaviors will change positively when people are adequately covered. It is thought that patients will use emergency rooms less, get mammograms and colonoscopies, be prescreened for diabetes and heart disease….and dump that old couch potato lifestyle for a nice bike ride.
A number of doctors aren’t buying the proposition based on their experiences in treating people. One doctor who worked for years in an ER said on television today that he believes patients will use the emergency room even more simply because they have insurance. Another doctor expresses her doubts in an American Thinker article where she describes the behaviors of some of her patients. One she described had plenty of money for repeated botox treatments at $400.00 a pop but failed to get mammograms even though she she was encouraged and knew was at high risk for breast cancer. Other patients were sporting $400.00 Blackberries with ongoing monthly service fees of $65-$150…some had the gall to complain about the $5.00 copay on their medicaid. But this was my personal favorite of patients who claim they can’t afford health care insurance:
Custom-designed body art, including tattoos covering the entire torso, neck and arms, as well as body jewelry piercing every skin surface imaginable-and a few unimaginable ones. Custom tattoo work, particularly the “portrait-type” and “half sleeve” art popular in this area, runs from $100-$300 per hour and can require up to 20 hours of work, depending on the complexity of the design.
The article contains several other examples of only one woman doctor’s experience. I hope you will read it and receive new inspiration to keep pressure on our legislators. The reality is that people do what they want and although our government has the ability to raise our taxes they don’t have the ability to legislate behaviors. Government cannot force people to be more responsible and make better choices. A BIG government plan will ultimately overwhelm future generations with tremendous debt.
If Congress is really serious about making healthcare affordable and available for all Americans they should concentrate on creating laws that lower the cost of insurance, create more insurance options, give tax incentives to individuals for buying insurance, and write tort reform to unburden doctors and hospitals from unreasonable tort expense. Once they’ve done that they should look at alternate solutions for the elderly. Medicare contributions to purchase private care and medical savings accounts would be a good place to start. Let’s work on getting government OUT of the health care business.