Every Man for Himself, No Matter the Cost?

Conservatives love to say they don't want to pay for the health care of another. Everyone should take care of themselves. The "every man for himself" philosophy might work well in an ideal world. In our current environment, this is an unobtainable and unrealistic goal.

"Insurance was designed to help in times of catastrophe. When we apply it to everyday health care, it becomes the catastrophe."

Here's the dilemma: Insurance premiums are high because you're already paying for everyone else. Insurance is, by definition, a cooperative instrument. Forcing all to buy it is the same as making them pay for everyone else. Those who can't afford insurance can't afford doctor visits, so they go to the ER where they can't be turned away. So, instead of a visit to the family doctor, the hospital loses a $1,000 or more to treat a common ailment. Hospitals require government assistance to offset these losses. Here again, everyone pays for everyone. Since there is no question this is the case, I think the objective is quite clear: Find a way to provide equitable and affordable health care for everyone.

Stein's Law: "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop".

Our level of access to affordable, quality care shouldn't depend on how good our job is. Insurance was designed to help in times of catastrophe. When we apply it to everyday health care, it becomes the catastrophe. Insurance companies have become the master of your health, instead of your doctor. Now it's the insurance company who decides which treatments you can have. The insurance model for primary care is crippling the industry and Americans.

Suggested Reads:

• The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care
  Washington Post correspondent Reid (The United States of Europe) explores health-care systems around the world in an effort to understand why the U.S. remains the only first world nation to refuse its citizens universal health care. -Publishers Weekly
• Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much
  Mahar's diagnosis: our privately managed yet mainly publicly funded system produces the worst of both worlds—high costs, rampant inefficiencies and intense competition among providers that doesn't benefit patients. -Publishers Weekly
• The Only Prescription For Healthcare Reform: A Physician's Inside Perspective of the Real Problems Plaguing the System
  Instead of wasting time discussing the secondary and peripheral features of the chaotic ways of the Healthcare system, this "Insider" strips away the "nonsense" and simply educates the reader about the few "core issues" that are the REAL causes of the Healthcare mess.
• Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer
  "Dean makes an excellent and extremely readable case for why substantive, structural reform isn't just necessary, it's imperative for the nation's economic recovery in the short term, and for establishing an economic base to build a sustainable future." -Mcjoan, DailyKos.com