I want us to go back in time to the mid-90's. You all remember all the scandal and the headlines regarding HMOs and their limiting the care a patient can receive??? Well, what do you think is going to happen under a national healthcare system???? Don't believe that, well it already occurs. Currently Medicaid/Medicare will only reimburse for certain tests and procedures associated with a diagnosis. What does this mean, well in the for profit hospitals, it means that if the doctor orders tests that are not covered by Medicaid/Medicare the patient is charged for the tests. In not for profit hospitals, many times those test do not get reimbursed and then the cost is passed on to the paying customers, the same is true in for-profit hospitals for tests that patients fail to pay for.

So if we go to a national healthcare system there will be two-tiers of treatment, the treatment for those who can pay or have private insurance, in which the doctors will order the necessary test and the treatment for all those without because the government will only allow certain tests and procedures to be performed, the HMO's all over again!!!!!!!!!! Why because government is responsible.

FUrthermore, until such time as people have a financial stake in the healthcare people will continue to abuse the system. This abuse is what has driven the costs so high, coupled with dubious litigation.

People who have no financial burden abuse the system terribly, for example showing up in the ER for a sore throat in the middle of the night, or because they have a cold, and want that free home-pack. Because of people like this the ER is more crowded than it should be, as a result that means more staffing is required, which means higher payroll which results in higher costs. Hell even folks with insurance are guilty of this practice. Because we want it now, the ER has become a glorified acute care center.

Until such time as there is in place a financial burden on those who miuse the system prices will continue to rise.

Now regarding litigation, when a doctor makes an flagarant mistake he should face a financial burden like any other business. However, medicine is not an exact science. As an adult if I were to show up in the ER complaining of chest pain, or perhaps I just say indigestion or heart burn, immediately the doctor must rule out an MI. Meaning thanks to that spicy mexican dinner I just ate, I am incurring some $4000 worth of testing. Why, this is CYA medicine, COVER YOUR ASS.

The next time Candidate Edwards talks about healthcare, someone, anyone should have the balls to ask him if he feels in anyway responsible for the increase in prices. FOr those of you that don't remember it was said Edwards who as a lawyer sued OB/GYN on behalf of parents with children born with down syndrome, the same Edwards who miraculously during closing arguments connected with that unborn child and made statements like hey I am trapped how about some help, or hey I am not doing so good, and convinced the juries that because these doctors delayed or did not perform C-sections the results were the child having down syndrome.

Well folks, the science is now in, delays in delivery have nothing to do with down syndrome. They do not cause it nor do they contribute to it. Edwards made his vast fortune as a trail lawyer, causing the cost of insurance for doctors who did not wrong to go up, which in turn made the cost of their services increase. So the next time Edwards talks about healthcare, he should be asked if he has any plans to return any of the money into the system that he helped increase in cost.

dmk