Broad Consensus forming around Healthcare reform

What better time for this to happen than right in the middle of one of the country’s worse financial droughts in history.  The benefits to business and American manufacturers would put them back on a more even playing field when competing against countries which have National Healthcare.  Relief from the administrative costs alone, would cut several points from the price of goods manufactured.  Payments to actual medical providers or insurance carriers would, again, greatly reduce the cost of producing goods.  I have long ranted about the costs of all the paper pushers in and around the medical business.  It’s mind-boggling to even begin to think of all the time and effort that goes into the billing and paying of all these medical costs.  This is a huge leech on the medical system in this country that we can no longer afford.  I dare say that eliminating this cost alone could pay for all the uninsured’s and provide even better care for those that now have good care provided them.

Some important information to consider:

Half of all personal bankruptcies in the U.S. are directly due to medical costs.  Reference

In 2005, the United States spent 16 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on health care. It is projected that the percentage will reach 20 percent by 2016. Health care spending accounted for 10.9 percent of the GDP in Switzerland, 10.7 percent in Germany, 9.7 percent in Canada and 9.5 percent in France, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.  Reference

Insurance companies are literally going broke trying to keep pace and make a buck from this business.  They are an easy knock-out in the fight for National Healthcare at the moment.  And the AMA is beginning to see the light as well, with many doctors and hospitals treating more and more patients that have no ability to pay them any longer.

So the time is now.  Talk the talk, walk the walk, and fight the fight.  But let’s be careful to avoid a watered-down or two-tier system.  The costs are too high for this great country and its people.

Healthcare reform gets backing in Congress