by Roddy Harris

Created on: August 30, 2009   Last Updated: September 01, 2009

Healthcare in this country is now the hot topic for debate. On one side you have the people who want healthcare for all and on the other side you have people who say it would be too expensive. What about our current healthcare system? Is it not also too expensive hence the need for healthcare reform? The current healthcare system is totally out of control. Have you gone to see your doctor lately? If so look at your statement. You will notice the price the doctor charged the insurance company and what they are paid is quite different. Why is it different? So they can keep healthcare costs down? Not really as the doctor's visit is inflated in the billing so they can get what they need from the insurance company. If they charged the insurance company the actual cost of the visit they would receive less than that from the insurance company. On top of that you also have to make a co-pay for the appointment. So if you are paying for your healthcare what are you actually getting for the service? I know many families who pay hundreds of dollars a month on healthcare insurance and never come close to spending that amount on healthcare. Where does the money go?

Many people think healthcare is needed for their best interests in case of emergency and I agree with them. But healthcare is big business and changes in the system are something big business does not want. Healthcare companies are not nonprofit organizations they are insurance companies out to make money. If they were nonprofit organizations they would be required to disclose how much money they actually spend on healthcare and how much they actually spend on other things like cost of staffing, advertising and bonuses for the top executives. It would be very interesting to see where the money we spend on healthcare actually goes. Is it invested in safe accounts, paid out in bonuses? What actually happens to the money?

If a family is paying $300.00 a month for their healthcare and are healthy they do not come close to using that amount of money. That would be $3,600.00 a year. Saying that the costs did not rise if the family continued to pay at that rate for 30 years they would have paid $108,000.00 into healthcare. If that money was invested properly over the years then the total would, with interest would be a lot higher. During this time the children of the family have grown up and are no longer covered by the family's healthcare. They are now working and paying for their own healthcare coverage. The husband

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>