What I believe...

This election is not something that I am looking forward to as an agent. Don't get me wrong I believe that every man woman and child deserves equal access to healthcare. I'm not sure if I believe that anyone including individuals or businesses should be mandated to carry it. And I only think that because in this country everyone has a choice. But on the other hand it's those same people who are going to be a burden to society because they are only going to sign up for benefits when they need them and they will never seek preventative care.

The public system that Obama talks about is good in theory and literally impossible in practice. I do believe in guarantee issue, but what good is there to have that if all healthcare costs rise? It is literally criminal to charge what is charged for the simplest care. The healthcare costs are the true problem with every procedure being outrageous. So what do you do to lower costs? Or better stated, who do we decide is going to get a pay cut? Doctor's? I don't think they are the problem and I'm sure many are overburdened giving free care and trying to get their money from insurance companies. The healthcare companies? Perhaps, but how do you regulate a business and tell them how much money they should make? Who decides that? If companies were people they would have a conscience about how they treat people. But for companies, especially healthcare companies, it's not about how they treat people, people are beside the fact. People are only treated well for their money companies don't collectively care about anybody--they care about things like money.
Look at Exxon with more record profits this quarter while millions suffer paying outrageous gas prices, is it their fault? Sure, but they were doing what they were suppose to, a company made profit which is all that it is required to do, they don't give a damn about people. The only time 'cares' or listens to people is when the bottom line is threatened. Do I think windfall profits tax should be put back in place? Of course, but how can you really punish a company for making money? If they have broken laws or regulations to make that much money then reform those but it seems unreasonable to me to punish them for working a system that doesn't work. Fix the system.
So take out the word Exxon and put in any of the leading healthcare companies. They are making money off a need of society the product is unimportant and the people they are serving are unimportant. All that is important is that bottom line. What needs to be reformed is the system that allows crazy profits while people are paying more and getting less.
Of course reform and regulation just causes the companies to raise prices to cover the hassle of dealing with government and people. And of course the companies get use to making more money regardless of how they are inflating the price or the suffering of the people they supposedly serve.
What is the answer? Universal healthcare? I think lowering the actual costs of care is the start or giving some sort of incentive or breaks to companies that are not for profit. Making healthcare compete against eachother is another start, but not by pitting states individual plans/policies against others, everyone should have the same type care available that should be mandated. If there was one mandate of what policies should contain that is national would help. But again that would rise costs.

It's a circle, one that I can't solve with my piece of it. But I do believe that without lower costs of products and procedures we don't really have a good shot. It's easy to pass laws and mandates it's much more difficult to give companies a conscience to care and serve people.