by Suspicious Mind

Created on: August 31, 2007   Last Updated: October 04, 2007

We have a health care crisis in this country, and there are three root causes. The first is the cost of medication, the second is the inflation of the cost of health care services due to insurance costs, and the third are government sponsored programs like Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP.

Americans pay the most for their medications. We pay more than anyone else it the world. We have elderly people cutting their medications in half, or not taking them, because they simply cannot afford them. The next time you are in a doctors office, please observe a few things. The pen that the secretary, nurses, or doctors are using, is there the name of a drug on those?

How about the mouse pad, sticky note pads and other office supplies? In most offices, you will see the names of prescription drugs on them. Why are the companies spending money on those things when that money could be going to research and the research money reducing the price of medicine?

These perks, along with lunches and other considerations are used by the drug sales representatives to get doctors to prescribe these medicines. Some even offer bonuses like trips and other luxury items if the doctor prescribes a certain amount of prescriptions. Why isn't the doctor just educated about the medicine and what its for?

Shouldn't the patients need be the reason for prescribing that medicine and not the trip to Disney Land? Why do they need to be bribed to prescribe it? The doctors are a bit at fault here too, since they should be refusing to entertain these sales people, but at the same time, they are also business people, and if I don't have to pay for pens mouse pads and sticky note pads, the more profit I make. The amount of money paid out in these items is out of hand, and this doesn't even touch the television and other needless advertising. It should be the doctors prescribing the drug, not the patient requesting it.

The cost of health care services, the price you pay for doctors visits, exams, and other things, is greatly inflated in this country. The reason, insurance. The two types that most influence the price you pay to see a doctor are health insurance, and liability insurance. Doctors get sued, and must carry insurance to cover any lawsuit they lose. This cost, which can be disastrously high, gets passed on to the patient. The other problem is the health insurance industry itself. Think about how much it costs just to run the medical insurance division of an insurance company. The cost of the employees,

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