From the Porch
What should we do about health care?
Dwight Otwell

One of the major topics in the Presidential campaign is health care.

It should be high priority. Some say one in seven Americans don't have health insurance. In the Appalachian mountains, the percentage of uninsured runs much higher.

The rich can afford health insurance. Many employers provide health insurance for their full-time employees. But most employers now require their employees to share the cost with the company.

However, as the cost of health insurance has gone up, more and more employers are deciding that they can't both stay in business and pay part or all of the insurance cost for employees. Therefore, the land is being flooded with middle class and lower middle class Americans who have no insurance. They can't pay for private insurance and meet all of their bills so they take the chance that they won't get seriously ill. The government pays the medical costs of those in poverty.

The advanced research and technology in the United States is astounding. There are cures and ways to help medical problems that we once could only dream of. With the advances being made, we may one day be able to get replacements for most organs and cure most diseases. However, the cost of research and converting these advances into practical medicine is very high.

As our system now stands, that means that these marvels of medicine aren't available for a large number of our citizens.

Some point to Canada's universal health care as the system we should adopt in this country so that all will have access to health care.

But there are many problems with Canada's system too. It boils down to America's uninsured versus Canada's wait time.

In Canada, it is a civic right to have hospital and doctor care. But the taxes of Canadians are very high. Also, wait times are sometimes more than a year for tests, specialists and surgeries. The most critical cases are supposed to be served first. Though rare, some Canadians have died while waiting for medical care. On the other hand, uninsured persons often wait too long to seek medical care and die because they couldn't face the prospect of medical bills that they might not be able to pay off in their lifetime.

So what do we do? I have not studied the problem long enough to have come up with a solution. Maybe, something in between what we now have in America and Canadian socialized medicine is the answer. It is a fact that the United States spends far more per person than Canada does on health care. About a third of what we pay for health care goes to administrative costs. Canada only spends a third of what we do on administration. Perhaps we should do something similar to Canada in that realm.

Listen carefully to what the candidates for President and for our state and National Legislatures say about this matter. Consider, ponder and don't get caught up in rhetoric. It is a huge problem and it will take some innovative thinking to ease it. It will also take dedicated voters, who take the time to delve deeply into this issue.