Have any of you stayed overnight at a hospital recently? I was shocked at the bill that I received from ‘my’ hospital and its affiliate doctors after my most recent stay. A night at the hospital will pay your five-day ‘best rate’ stay at the Waldorf Astoria! To think that sometimes you end up sharing your hospital room with a total stranger who gets on your nerves. And, woe to you if you dare upgrade to a private room. To me, the health insurance business is one moneymaking venture. When we pay health insurance costs, we do so with the intent to mitigate our future healthcare costs. Why then do we end up having to pay so much in healthcare costs? I only began to understand this healthcare pain when I needed healthcare services that extended beyond my yearly physical. I don’t know about you, but I think we desperately need an overhaul of our healthcare delivery system.

Without healthcare delivery and insurance reform, attempts at healthcare reform will probably not amount to much. The currently proposed “America’s affordable health choices act of 2009” bill seeks to expand healthcare coverage to approximately 40 million Americans and to reduce growth in healthcare spending. This sounds like a great idea. But, wait a minute, what kind of services will be covered? Although I have insurance, I am paying through my teeth for health services. Are we trying to extend these additional costs to approximately 40 million Americans? Some may argue that the uninsured cannot afford the rising cost of healthcare, thus a bill that seeks to extend coverage and reduce costs will be beneficial to us all.

However, the insured cannot also afford the rising cost of healthcare. Therefore, to me, the problem lies with the cost of healthcare and not just the availability. Why am I being charged over $1500 a night to stay in an uncomfortable hospital bed? Well, call me selfish, but the current version of the healthcare reform bill is not going to solve my cost problem.

See, my question is, if we don’t fix our health insurance, pharmaceutical and hospital costs, can we really provide all Americans with quality healthcare? Even when one has private health insurance, healthcare does not come cheap. Not only do you have to meet your deductible and co-pays for most insurance plans, but also, you have to pay the co-pay amounts for your prescription drugs. How then can we make healthcare affordable for all?

In recent weeks, I have heard several comparisons of the U.S. healthcare system to that of Canada, England, France and several other countries. Maybe we could all get ‘free’ healthcare and ‘free’ medication. Well, do you know that some of the citizens of these countries are disenchanted with the type of health services provided? Do you know how long it takes to obtain a CT scan or MRI in these countries? According to Parker (2004), the median wait time for a CT scan in Canada is 5.5 weeks. Depending on your ailment, you may not have that much time to live. In 2004, Parker indicated that the wait time for a referral by a GP for a consultation with a specialist was running about 8.3 weeks. I know that Parker's information is from 2004 and may be dated. However, a Canadian friend of mine told me recently that, he had to wait 10 weeks for his specialist consultation. Another (Canadian) colleague had to wait 4 months in order to obtain an MRI. Some of my British and French friends have been complaining about the doctor bribery trends. Are you familiar with the instances where patients bribe doctors in order to jump the healthcare queue? Like the American healthcare system, the healthcare systems in several countries are not perfect either.

 Solution

We need to make a bi-partisan effort to find a solution to our healthcare woes. This is what I was thinking… Just like we have our public and private schools, is it possible to have government-run and private-run hospitals? If we went to the government hospitals, we would get our meds and care for ‘free’ or pay a subsidized amount. However, if we went to the private hospitals, we would have to pay for our care through our insurance or from out of pocket. Maintaining the private hospitals ensures that we don't put the insurance companies  and private enterprises out of business. This is because there are several households, who are employed by our private enterprises and we wouldn't want an increase in unemployment. After all, during times, when we may not be able to afford a long wait at our government-run hospitals, we could obtain services from our private hospitals (if we can afford to). I know someone is ranting, raving and wondering about the financial responsibilities tied to the government-run hospitals. Well, unfortunately, we the taxpayers will have to support such an endeavor. Considering that we are paying to sustain our public school systems, we should be able to find a way to pay for healthcare. Remember, we are not obliged to choose a government-run hospital over a private hospital. We are always welcome to choose private care if we can afford the costs. As you know, I'm just sharing my thoughts here and there. Thus, I will appreciate your feedback, thoughts and alternate solutions to our healthcare predicament.