We didn’t get to be a great nation by being gullible. But when it comes to healthcare, gullible we are.
We spend twice as much as the Japanese, Canadians, British and French. Two dollars spent on healthcare, one dollar wasted.
And the quality of our care? Forbes business magazine reports the U.S. is not ranked within the top ten for medical outcomes.
Hugely profitable medical, pharmaceutical and insurance interests push the argument that Americans should do battle with medical realities with little or no help from our government. That approach can leave families— even those with good coverage through employers — one tumor, one car crash, one tumble-down-the-stairs away from bankruptcy. (Medicare protection can’t come too soon.)
Politicians financed by the medical industry use the word “socialism” to scare us off of a plan to protect all Americans. They talk of free markets, competition and consumer choice, but our current system delivers on none of those promises.
Try unraveling your insurance riders or tracking the charges from an out-of-network emergency-room doctor, you’ll find yourself at the mercy of higher than average call volumes.
This is an election year. Let the candidates know you have an opinion on healthcare. 
Thomas Figel
Pat, to you and all your blog readers, I recommend http://www.johntorinus.com. On his blog, John Torinus often writes sensibly and knowledgeably about healthcare cost management, this from the experience of grappling with the problem as owner of Serigraph, a large Wisconsin-based printer. Before purchasing Serigraph, John was the business editor of one of the Milwaukee papers. In fact, the most recent blog post is about the management of costs through the help of someone whose job it is to help with selection of care options.
Pat Shiplett
Tom, thanks as always for this comment. I’ve read it carefully. He accurately discusses some the problems we face. Readers should be aware that John Torinus, at the end of his blog post, reveals that he is an investor in a director of a paid service to help people work through the maze of healthcare delivery and costs.
Lynn Crosswaite
Perfect synopsis of what is wrong with healthcare. And why we need to make that an important issue, if not THE most important issue in the next election. Vote Dem.
Pat Shiplett
Thanks, Lynn, You’re right. For most families the threat of get sideswiped by the medical industry is a more eminent threat than a foreign attack.
Pat Shiplett
Small businesses and gig workers are at special disadvantage with the current system. Not only don’t they receive the cost reductions given to large corporations through their insurance, but certain tax deductions have been denied to them.
Susan Lieber
Love this. If only everything was this obvious!