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The article about Grand Junction’s health care system is opinion, not news. Author Gary Harmon seems to have only talked to Dr. Schroeder, an outspoken libertarian, who has made it plain in the past that he is of the school that feels that health care is just a commodity and you can have as much, and of degree in quality, as you can afford.
The national “issue” is actually two issues; health and medical care insurance and the structure and operation of the provider side of the equation. Dr Schroeder’s example of those needing fertility services shows just how out of touch he is with real people’s lives. Who knows whether they need help before they have the need? To separate those kinds of services from others is what would make insurance just for those highly expensive. In effect the doctor is saying, help for fertility problems is an elective procedure. If you can afford it you can get help having children. If not, too bad.
A single payer system for universal health insurance is what would be best for actual people. Anything less is a bow toward those who feel that investors in private for-profit insurance companies should be entitled to a portion of your health care expenditures. Some call that “tribute.”
Health care provision is logically best left to private enterprise. Competition for your health care dollar is good but there needs to be easily accessible information about the historic performance of providers and the efficacy of procedures and medication. Dr. Schroeder is correct in saying that there needs to be a way that people have some “skin” in the game in making choices, but they need far more information than is currently available.
That’s just one of the structural changes needed in the provider side of the equation. There is no need for government operation for either part of the equation, but government should be the instigator of change. That’s also opinion, not news.
JOHN BORGEN
Grand Junction
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