While admittedly I have not supported health care reform in the past, a recent hospitalization reminded me of a few things: 1) How delicate and precious a person’s health is; 2) How important the jobs of our medical professionals are; 3) how downright scary it is to be checking one’s mailbox every day in anticipation of a hospital bill.

In today’s Bee article a doctor is quoted as making some–in my opinion–alarming statements that truly underscore the need for reform. Among them:

“[the doctor] said the public simply doesn’t understand how expensive it is to run a sophisticated emergency room and trauma center like the one at UC Davis”

Dear doctor: we, the public, don’t essentially care how expensive it is to run a sophisticated emergency room any more than we care how expensive it is to run a, e.g., sophisticated car repair garage. Frankly, it’s none of our business. Actually, it shouldn’t be your business (or burden), either. The truth is: it’s NOT ok that the minority of citizens who need your sophisticated emergency services are forced to pay for your equipment, your salaries, your operational costs, and every single item in the kitchen sink to keep your business afloat. I’m not pointing a finger, and God knows I value what you do, but the bottom line is that something MUST give because we, the public, can not afford your sophisticated emergency services any longer. Hence the cost of doing business is no longer important, because your business model is 100% unsustainable. Period.

“If he [Scott Hawkins] survived, we wouldn’t be even talking about the cost. We’d be saying: ‘That was money well spent”

Doctor, doctor, can’t you see we’re burning, burning.. our money? [80's pop music reference trivia]. Apparently not. Of COURSE we’d still be talking about it had he survived! In fact Scott himself would probably be writing a letter expressing his outrage over his own hospital bill, as millions of Americans do every month. Furthermore, if you really want to get down to brass tacks, the fact that he DIDN’T survive makes the $30,000 bill even more outrageous! That is, in most commerce circles, if the services rendered are not deemed successful, the customer does not get charged. (That is NOT to say anyone on your staff did anything wrong–or, God forbid–should be held accountable for Scott’s death in any way, it’s just to provide some contrast to reveal how illogical your rationale is).

“I think people are just uneducated about the cost. … If people actually knew what they were getting – yes, the cost is high, but it’s your only opportunity to save a life..”

Why do we need to be educated about the cost? Do I need to know how much it cost to run a Les Schwab tire store to get a flat tire repaired? Do I need to know how much it cost to run a Sam’s store to buy a cart of groceries? No. I just go to the counter and pay a FAIR price for the products received or services rendered. Then again Sam’s and Les Schwab are probably not analogous here because both have something you (emergency health care providers) don’t: competition.

Granted, saving a life is not realistically analogous to repairing a flat tire, but if your rationale holds any water, we would stand by and do nothing as the quality of an American life deteriorates simply out of  respect for the cost of saving one, and to me that is asinine at best. Consumers don’t need education about health care cost, what  they need is consumer protection from health care costs.

Another professional said consumers have the mindset of “We want it all, we want it now…And we don’t want to pay for it.”

Oh please! Forgive us for wanting emergency health care services to save our lives in an expedient manner, your excellency! Geez.  Not only is this person’s statement categorically FALSE, the caustic attitude that engenders it only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding (and animosity), and all but ensures it will prevail for the foreseeable future. MOST OF US don’t want medical services for FREE; all we want is a FAIR price, one that is commensurate with the hourly rates charged for labor in every other service related industry in America. Why is it that health care services are the only services in America that low to middle income earners literally must MORTGAGE to receive? Why is it that health care providers are the only service providers in the country that don’t have a price list to show us what we’re going to pay? This is a HUGE problem we as a country are facing, and attitudes such as the one on display in the preceding comment are NOT part of the solution.

At the end of the Bee article we’re told “There is little debate that the uninsured pose burdens to the country’s health care system.”

Um, the problem is NOT the burden of the people on the health care system; the problem is the burden of the health care system on the people! And that problem continues to mortify even the most optimistic among us.

I’ve changed my mind. The doctor who said people are not educated about the problem is absolutely right: there is a fundamental misconception at work here and it is clogging the arteries of progress. But the misconception is not about the average emergency room’s balance sheet as these defensive health cares professionals would have you believe; it’s about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.. three things that are routinely and conveniently dismissed in academic conversations about health care.

God bless all those who cannot afford health care for themselves and/or their families at this moment.  Health care should not be a luxury only available to the wealthy, or those who are fortunate enough to work for a conglomerate corporation. Our country is only as good as its citizens. United we stand, divided we fall. That is the ONLY thing any of us need to be educated about.

Source: http://www.sacbee.com/topstories/story/2313228.html