Health Care Reform

First of all, let me say that blogging about a politically charged issue is completely not the norm for me. This issue, however, directly and immediately impacts my life more than most issues do. I do not have a clear vision of what I believe should happen with health care reform. I am writing this post as a way to be clear on my thoughts as well as to ask my readers (there are 10's of you!) for your opinions and feedback.

In the interest of full disclosure I should say that I generally would be considered a conservative. I do try to look at each issue independently, however, and make my decision without regard to how any particular ideology or group would like me to think.

One thing I know is that the way health care is done in this country right now just doesn't work. As a small business owner I provide health insurance for my employees. I care about them a great deal and want them to be able to afford to get the healthcare they need. Likewise, I have two kids for whom I am responsible. My son just had the tubes removed from his ears. We had to pay FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS for the 15 minute procedure.

We spend thousands of dollars each month to cover our family and three other employees. The only benefit we see from it is that we get to pay just a co-pay for our prescriptions. So far we have never once had expenses that exceed our mammoth deductable.

One case against social medicine I hear is that the government doesn't run much else well, so why do we want to hand them our healthcare? My thought on that argument is that I'm not doing cartwheels about my private healthcare company anyway!

I am generally in favor of smaller government, of government staying out of people's lives. It seems in this case there is room for at least some regulation.

It seems to me also that health care reform and tort reform need to go hand in hand. A huge amount of the cost of our health care is directly associated with doctors and hospitals needing to protect themselves from legal action. I've always been a big fan of "loser pays". Let's eliminate lawsuits in this country except is such cases where wrongdoing is so clear that there is little question.

Your thoughts? Is US health care working well for you? What do you think about this issue?