Actor Mike Farrell On Health Care Reform

I follow the Speaking of Justice website with Scott Drake. While the site is mainly for those scoundrels called lawyers, the videos usually give insight to some current issue that is quite interesting. Then I found the above video.

There is a desperate need in our nation to do something about health care. Call it reform. Call it overhaul. Call it starting all over. Call it whatever you want, but when there are people dying because they can't afford the most basic & inexpensive of medicines, in the most wealthy nation on earth, there is a problem.

There is no reason we can't come up with some sort of solution whereby everyone --- man, woman, boy, girl, teen, aged, everyone --- is covered by a basic system. As it stands now, the insurance companies are in an adversarial position with the health care providers. It's really simple: the insurance companies are trying to get by with paying as little as possible while the health care providers are trying to get deliver quality care. Granted, some of these providers are trying to make as much money as possible, even by fleecing the insurance companies, but that is small scale compared to the people having to make --- literally --- life & death decisions every day because they can't afford medicines or health insurance.

The way our current system delivers care is so convoluted that it looks like a Baptist committee developed it over several generations. Pre-existing conditions don't get covered if you change jobs. The result is people get stuck in jobs without hope of moving up, just to keep health insurance. And those employers know that & use it, too. What is basic coverage in one plan is premium in another. Patients have to chose doctors based on insurance coverage instead of proximity, choice, or qualifications. Meds that are absolutely necessary for some to live are withheld due to an insurance company's guidelines.

There must be a better way to provide affordable, quality health care to all Americans. I don't know how; I don't know who nor when; nor do I even pretend to have the details. What I do know is that there is no excuse for the richest nation on earth to not have a viable health care option for all Americans. It is simply not acceptable.

We should be able to do this. People like the young baseball coach in my county shouldn't have to die because he couldn't afford the basic blood pressure medications that nearly everyone has to take. People like a friend of mine who can't leave her dead end job to better her life because her heart condition will not be covered under most insurance plans & she can't afford the out of pocket costs. People should not have to make the choice of paying for groceries or paying for medicines.

I'm not talking about the premier coverage. I'm talking about basic health care coverage. We can develop a plan that covers the meds most Americans have to take; a minimal standard of care; policies for the care the aged will receive; & a plan that allows private insurance to pick up where the minimal plan leaves off.

No excuse not to. No excuse. Not any.