The Health Care Bill is a Red Herring

Why does it have to be so damned hard to get to the root of the health care meltdown in America? 2,200+ pages and nothing in it addresses the cause of the cost escalation!

Coverage of all Americans is great (in theory), but that is not addressing the rising cost of health care. Where are these items addressed?

1. Prescription costs (the American patient is subsidizing the cost of medications to the rest of the world whose governments have put a cap on pharmaceuticals).

2. Malpractice insurance costs (a major factor in what the doctor charges you)

3. Malpractice lawsuit awards (no cap). This one item has driven up the cost of health care by making doctors order expensive and unnecessary tests on every patient just to protect themselves...not the patient.

What the bill does address is the cost of health insurance. However, the insurance companies are for profit and must increase their rates due to the 3 items listed above. If these root problems are not addressed, how can the insurance companies be expected to NOT increase their premiums? At what point do the insurance companies go bankrupt? I'm not saying that they haven't raped their subscribers the way it has been, but I can see what is on the horizon without addressing 1 thru 3 above.

What are some good ideas? Those countries that have national health care (paid by the government) are controlling these three items.

What I see that is good about this bill is the elimination of pre-conditions and annual caps, forbidding the dropping of coverage when a patient has a major medical crisis, and coverage for low income. Other than that, I don't see where much progress has been made.

Nothing in the bill addresses the root problems!

What I suspect is that Americans have been making up the difference for those countries that have national health care programs that set price controls. And that is unchanged.

I think the American lawmakers (both parties) are just too cowardly to tackle the real problem!