The debate rages on about Health Care Reform. I guess the part that constantly disturbs me the most, is that this debate has nothing at all to do with health care. It is entirely about Insurance Reform and how to get more people being forced to buy more insurance from an already multi-trillion dollar a year industry!Health Care itself is not even about health care. It is about disease treatment. There is not a single program the government offers, or the insurance companies offer that is in any way concerned with keeping you healthy. They are delighted that the American population is getting fatter and sicker by the day, and paying more and more each year to get medical services, which they need more and more each year. The spiral grows and the insurance companies are laughing all the way to the bank!
Having gone to both veterinary college, and human medical college, I can tell you the one outstanding difference, was the price. Let me give you a few examples: Pet hospitalization overnight: about $20, human $2,000. Pet hysterectomy: about $250, human $25,000 Pet insurance per year: about $100, human $10,000. The list goes on and on with the notable feature being that all human medical costs are 100 times as much, for exactly the same thing!
Having gone to both veterinary college, and human medical college, I can tell you the one outstanding difference, was the price. Let me give you a few examples: Pet hospitalization overnight: about $20, human $2,000. Pet hysterectomy: about $250, human $25,000 Pet insurance per year: about $100, human $10,000. The list goes on and on with the notable feature being that all human medical costs are 100 times as much, for exactly the same thing!
If you made the price on human medical services the same as they are at a veterinary hospital, the human medical industry and the veterinary medical industry would be exactly the same size: twenty billion dollars a year in revenues. Medicare fraud alone is currently three times as large as the entire veterinary industry, which frankly delivers the most amazing services at the best prices on the planet.
Fifty years ago, a person might carry what was then called "Major Medical Insurance," which was for use if you got really sick and ended up in the hospital. Some people had it, but not very many. Also, fifty years ago, hospitals were mostly owned by Churches and Cities. Now they are all owned by Corporations. Which means they are now only concerned with profits. Your health is a far distant third or fourth concern to these corporations. See if they'll help you for free when you're really sick and can't afford it. The church owned hospitals use to.
The only real answer to this debate is that the government should offer free health care by opening up it's already free locations like the VA hospitals and medicare. If you don't want to buy health insurance, head down to the VA for care. Just like public schools are free, so should some version of medical care be.
It's a fool's game, and the insurance companies are trying to balloon a two trillion dollar a year industry into a ten trillion dollar a year industry. Don't think so? Wait and see what happens.
Dr. Doug Ikeler http://www.ikelerbooks.com/
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