According to the National Coalition on Health Care, 40 percent of those without health insurance are in households earning $50,000 or more. Some need help, other elect not to buy insurance.
The young and healthy choose to go bare, while others are old and will not purchase Medicare Part B until they get sick. Many know that they can go to the emergency room and not be turned away.
The sheer number of people without health insurance is not the problem. The problem is that costs continue to rise faster than inflation. Those who work hard and budget carefully in order to pay for health insurance and co-pays are the ones who deserve a break from lower cost health care.
What can be done to cut the costs? Utilizing the medical assistant or the nurse practitioner when an MD once had to be seen, is one step in the right direction. Surely we can take additional steps toward the effective use of medial providers. Medical malpractice takes it toll with excessive awards and medically unnecessary tests. Another way to manage the cost is to make sure that the person who receives medical treatment is the person who pays the bill. He who loads up the plate at the buffet does not order to much when it’s a la carte.
In 2007, the U.S. health benefit cost rose to an average of $7,983 per employee. Pay these earning direct to the employee though a tax-free health-care account. Continue to fund programs for the truly poor and give the majority the ability to manage their own health-care accounts.
BRUCE TAYLOR
Grand Junction

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 8:54 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.