I got through the health care bill. For those who believe in big government this bill is a dream come true. It creates layers and layers of bureaucracy that will lead to many new government jobs but not, in my opinion, improve care. It also spends lots and lots of money. The question I kept asking over and over was how in the world will this be paid for.

On the other hand I found a few things I liked. To the best I could understand their is a plan for a pilot program to create community home health centers. This would be a small group of say 10 or less doctors who would tend to the basic health care needs that did not require specialists or hospitalization. People who could not afford health care insurance or who were not insurable could go to these clinics and this would free up our emergency rooms to treat true emergencies.

I actually love this idea. The bill also has provisions to let some doctors pay off portions of their medical school debt in return for working in areas that need more doctors. It seems to me these home health care centers would be a perfect place to get experience as a general practitioner.

I also like the idea of these centers because they are community based and people who would not otherwise have a personal doctor can see the same physicians, nurses and office staff and perhaps develop some positive relationships and receive individualized care.

Another idea I liked was the plan to charge a 2.5% tax on people who can afford health care but choose not to have it. These would more than likely be younger people who are basically healthy. These people could also choose to go to the community health care clinics and form relationships there for minor injuries and ailments. They could pay a portion of the cost just like if they had a co pay with an insurance company. They could later opt into the private health care system when their income could better handle the premiums for comprehensive policies.

I assume that suing the government would not be an option or at least not a viable one so cost could be kept down more easily at the government controlled clinics(I can’t believe I just said cost control and government in the same sentence). Pharmaceutical companies would probably work with the government to keep drug costs down as well. If this system was successful for uninsured people it could be expanded to those who carry only catastrophic policies and have medical savings accounts to cover minor medical bills.

I don’t think health care is as complicated as we make it. Part of the problem is we, as a society, don’t take enough personal responsibility for our own health and this bill does not do anything to encourage personal responsibility. Why not start with a small pilot program, some targeted regulations and taxes and see how it works before turning our current system into an even greater nightmare of bureaucracy. Madalyn