by Randall Bullard

Created on: September 04, 2009   Last Updated: September 05, 2009

Health Care Reform: What We Really Need.

Anywhere on the television or talk radio these days, discussion and debate on the issue of health care reform is all that can be heard. The question that seems lost in the debate is the one that should be asked, not how can health care coverage be extended to the millions of uninsured but instead how can the cost of health care be brought within a range that is affordable to most Americans. The question of the day is not if health care reform is needed; everyone who has ever had need for health care is well aware that something needs to change. The debates on health care reform seem to have focused only on insurance and insurance coverage and the focusing on providing insurance coverage is going in the wrong direction. Sure, health insurance costs are continually increasing at a rate far greater than the pace of individual earnings but the cost of the services that health insurance companies insure is the driving factor in rising health care expenditures. This is where the focus should be. This is where real reform and regulation is needed. Not in creating programs to pay for the cost of health care but in creating regulations that control the cost of health care.

What is needed in this country is not health care reform in the sense of universal access to coverage. This would be ideal; however, this is a lofty goal that is virtually unachievable without some SERIOUS changes to the current system. What is needed is justification by the health care industry for the dramatically increasing costs of health care. Without fail, anytime someone begins to attack the actual cost of health care, those that control the cost of these services cry out about the millions it costs for research into new treatments and the astronomical costs of malpractice insurance. In a sense they are right. Research and development is a costly and labor-intensive reality of making strides in the treatment of the nation's ailments, but these costs can be controlled; especially those relating to malpractice lawsuits.

I can understand that fear o lawsuits can drive doctors to perform unnecessary test. The absolute necessity of insurance to guard against frivolous and costly lawsuits is a barrier to confronting the rising costs associated with health care successfully; without reform on this front, none of the current proposals will amount to anything more than a band aid on the American health care system. Insurance for all will not work. Insurance

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