Politicians Make Bad Doctors...

...in more ways than one. Obama's health care reform seems to be a good idea. Yes, it's true that millions of Americans don't have health insurance and that having health insurance is a good thing. Ergo, we (meaning the government) should do something about getting health insurance for those people. President Obama and his liberal cohorts make that sound like a simple problem with a simple solution. Just approve the President's health care reform and voila! All fixed.

I disagree. I see the millions of uninsured and underinsured as a symptom of a bigger problem. Contrary to politicians, a good doctor won't simply treat the symptoms; s/he will look for the cause and treat that instead (thereby eliminating the symptoms). Politicians are just treating the symptoms with this ridiculous health care proposal. Americans need decent jobs to pay for health insurance. They need education to get those jobs. Why doesn't the government spend those trillions of dollars on boosting small business and funding scholarships so more Americans can go to college? Why don't they treat the cause and not the symptom?

Another reason politicians make bad doctors becomes visible if you look deeper into the proposed health care reform. If passed, it would put a bureaucrat in charge of your health. The government would set standards for health care, including who can receive what - tests, surgeries, treatments, drugs. I don't know about you but I want my doctor to decide that, not somebody without a medical degree who is only focused on the costs. If my child is sick I don't care what it costs to get him well again - I'll pay it. Somehow.

And the killing blow to Obama's health care reform is this: where is the US going to get enough doctors and nurses to treat the additional 50 million insured? Doctors, hospitals and clinics are already stretched to the limit providing care for those who currently have insurance. How can our existing pool meet the additional demand?

Notes:

"Of the 45.7 million U. S. residents without health insurance, 20 million are employees - or in the families of employees - of businesses with 50 or fewer employees." - National Center for Policy Analysis, No. 642, Wednesday, February 11, 2009, Daniel Wityk: http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba642

"Small businesses drive the nation's economy—more than 95 percent of all businesses in the United States [emphasis added] have fewer than 500 employees..." - U.S. News & World Report, "Small Businesses Hold on Despite Economy: Weak consumer spending and lack of credit take their toll on small-business owners, but many persevere" July 22, 2009, Matthew Bandyk: http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/small-business-entrepreneurs/2009/07/22/small-businesses-hold-on-despite-economy.html