I am somewhat disappointed with the projected health care system that seems to be emerging. It looks to me like what we need is a horse, and what Obama, et al are coming up with is a six-legged camel with wings and its eyes on stalks. My only hope is that if it passes, it will actually get us where we need to go.

I am for single-payer government run health care system. Simple, straightforward, proven.

But one thing that Obama said in his speech was particularly germane to my situation:

"Under this plan, it will be against the law for insurance companies to deny you coverage because of a preexisting condition. As soon as I sign this bill, it will be against the law for insurance companies to drop your coverage when you get sick or water it down when you need it the most. They will no longer be able to place some arbitrary cap on the amount of coverage you can receive in a given year or in a lifetime. We will place a limit on how much you can be charged for out-of-pocket expenses, because in the United States of America, no one should go broke because they get sick. And insurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies -- -- because there's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives."

I have a scoliosis (spinal curvature) left over from polio when I was two years old. Because of this, I throw my back out easily and frequently. Reach for something and "POP!" The back goes out, and until I do something about it, it's like I have a railroad spike in my back. It can be quite painful and downright debilitating.

I have a chiropractor who makes house calls. Because this is a chonic thing, I need his services about every two weeks, and frequently more often than that. His office is only a few blocks from were I live. He takes a long lunch hour on which he goes jogging, and when I need his services, I call, and he jogs to my place in the early afternoon (with his English bulldog, Trevor), works me over (massage, adjustment), and leaves me all ship-shape—until it happens again.

I called his receptionist this morning to set up another appointment, and she informed me that my insurance company had informed her that I was good for one more adjustment, and that ended my coverage for the rest of the year. I have used up this year's allowance.

So, what does the insurance company expect me to do, take aspirin for the rest of the year? When they cover it, it leaves me with a $15.00 co-pay. I can pay full price, but it really cuts into the budget!

What is that but rationing, pray tell?

And my position is a bit precarious. Since I have had polio, what could the insurance company decide not to cover, invoking polio as a "pre-existing condition?"

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As to the high price of health service in this country, the insurance companies are not the only culprits. There are two in particular that I can think of offhand.

1.   I'm not sure how many hospitals there are in the Seattle area, but there are several. And a couple of them, like Swedish, are BIG. A couple of campuses. There's University of Washington Medical Center (also big), Virginia Mason Hospital, Northwest Hospital, Pacific Medical Center, and a couple more in the immediate area, not to mention large clinics up the ziggy. Most of them have their own CAT scan and MRI machines. Competition. If one has an MRI scanner, the others have to have one too.

In some areas, and in many countries, such facilities are shared. One MRI in a given area with a number of hospitals. A patient from hospital A who needs a scan is sent to hospital B, who has the scanner. I've been told that there are more MRI scanners in the city of Seattle than there are in the entire country of Canada. And that's not because Canada is short of MRI scanners.

And all those scanners (pricy gadgets!) have to be paid for.

2.   Medical and orthopedic equipment is generally far more expensive than it needs to be. Talking to a technician from Care Medical who was working on my electric wheelchair one afternoon, I asked him why a standard, manual wheelchair is so much more expensive than, say, a decent bicycle, when, if you think about it, there is darn little difference between the component parts? Or why an electric wheelchair is so much more expensive than a golf cart, when there is little difference in technology and components between the two conveyances? Or why a pair of aluminum forearm crutches cost as much as they do?

He said, "It's because the manufacturers figure that they're going to be paid for by an insurance company, and people have to have them. So the manufacturer's jack up the price. By the way," he concluded, "you didn't hear that from me."

Don Firth

P. S. Rig, I, too, am concerned about illegal aliens bankrupting the country if a good national health system passes in the U. S. I live in Seattle, which is not that far from the Canadian border. I see great thundering herds of Mexicans running by my front windows in a constant stream, like migrating caribou, to illegally cross the Canadian border to get to Canada's national health service. I don't know how Canada's economy copes!

It's a worry that keeps me up nights!! Not to mention all those Mariachi bands. . . .