KYLE McGOWAN

Health care opinions clarified

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Posted: 2/8/08

I would like to first start by saying that I respect Elan Golan's opinion, "Health care reform plausible," published Thursday, but I would like to clarify a few things that he wrote in his column. I'll take the points that Elan took.

First, "We'll have to wait in lines forever."

This is a statement many people fear and rightfully should. It's not that people are scared of having a car crash and having to wait in the emergency room as they die. Every hospital in the nation would take those people in on a priority basis like they do today.

What people are worried about are people such as my grandfather who had to have a heart value replacement. If he were a resident of a country such as Canada that has a health care system similar to what Mr. Golan talks about, he would have to wait for that surgery. This surgery improved his quality of life, but it was not an immediate, life-saving surgery.

The major point here is that he received the surgery without delay and did not have to wait "in line" for an under-staffed, under-equipped hospital to get to him.

The next statement is that "Socialism is anti-American."

Well, it is anti-American. We live in a capitalistic society where the free market reigns and the government steps in to help regulate in certain instances and to fix market failures. Anyone who has taken an economics class knows that a market failure is when the economy fails to function properly. What constitutes "functioning properly," however, is what society decides.

All of the things Golan named, such as public libraries, police departments, fire stations and public schools are market failures because a person cannot make money providing those services unless the government steps in and pays them.

Health care, on the other hand, is not a market failure. Doctors, nurses, and pharmaceutical companies are all making money without the help of the government.

The next issue is "Implementing such a system will bankrupt us."

Here again, this statement is very true. According to a 2004 Justice Department report entitled "Improving Health Care: A Dose of Competition," 14 percent, or $1.6 trillion, was spent on health care in 2002. Of that, 45 percent ($720 billion) was paid for by federal, state and local governments, 40 percent ($640 billion) by private insurance and another 15 percent ($240 billion) was spent by the citizens using the system.

So in 2002, there was a total of $1.6 trillion spent on health care.

According to a Congressional Budget Office report to Congressman Jeb Hensarling, $2.7 trillion dollars a year already is being spent on entitlement programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Adding all health care costs into the already existing entitlement programs would be devastating to our economy.

Like Golan said, taxes would have to increase.

But he is wrong in saying that only that top 1 percent of the nation could raise enough money. Taxes would go up for everyone, and higher taxes cannot help an already struggling economy.

"This system will make the drug companies unprofitable."

Once again this statement is true. In the past 30 years, the overwhelming majority of new prescription drugs on the market have come from pharmaceutical companies within the U.S. This is because Americas pay top price for their prescription drugs, which gives the pharmaceutical companies the money needed to invest in new drugs.

The average drug on the market today took 10 years of research and development before the company who produced it made any profit. That is why American pharmaceutical companies seem to be making so much money, but a lot of that money is spent on backing and producing the next set of wonder drugs.

Stated in the same justice department report, prescription drugs made up only 11 percent of the total health care cost in 2002. Instead of putting a noose around the necks of the companies producing the drugs that help people around the world, the government should focus on trying to institute an insurance plan that will help people have affordable private insurance.

I realize that right now private insurance is very costly, but if 300 million people were forced to buy insurance, prices would drastically decrease due to an increase of people in the insurance market.

The final statement is that "Good students won't want to become doctors."

I have to say that I partly agree with Golan here. I think that a doctor's first priority should be helping the patient, but I also think that after 21 years of school a doctor deserves to make more than someone with a four-year undergraduate degree.

I also want to say that with all the medical malpractice insurance and long days and nights working, doctors more than earn their living.

Health care is a very touchy subject and I think we all can agree something needs to be done soon.

The answer, however, is not universal health care.

- Kyle McGowan is a senior from Athens majoring in political science.