A 'healthy' value meal?

Modern American health care is starting to look like an out-of-control keg party. The only problem: the keg is running low and a lot of people are thirsty. While calls for "nationalized" and "affordable" health care captivate many dreamers, a sobering reality exists for the rest of America.\nPoliticians do very little but milk their geriatric constituency; the doctor's office more than ever resembles a McDonald's drive-thru lane and health care big-wigs ignore the fact that America needs more good physicians to relieve the ongoing dearth of qualified doctors.\nA recent trip home put the sad nature of our system in perspective for me. My father has been battling prostate cancer for some time and had his prostate removed several years back. In February of this year, following some checkup tests, his doctor recommended that he undergo radiation to kill the remaining cancer.\nDuring radiation he was under the care of "one of the best" urologists in Philadelphia. Following the radiation treatments, some scar tissue lingered and blocked his urinary tract. After several catheterizations the doctor prescribed a medication to shrink the scar tissue. A couple weeks ago my father was feeling much better and asked the doctor if he should continue the medication. \n"Since I scraped you, it's not necessary to keep taking the medicine," said the doctor. He was referring to a scraping procedure that removes scar tissue from the body. My dad, knowing that he never received such a procedure, responded, "You never scraped me." \nThe doctor then uttered this reply:\n"Oh … well then, keep taking the medication."\nShocking, isn't it? If this is the model of a great physician, it seems like I'd be better off with a witch doctor. All kidding aside, my father's doctor, like so many others, spends his entire day treating an insane number of patients. This futile attempt makes him totally unaware of his patients and therefore, the care he delivers is not only impersonal but also dangerous.\nWhile physicians are spreading themselves too thin, the greatest predicament remains unaddressed -- patients demand too much from insurers. Let me explain. \nAmerican health care operates on a third-party system which means that even though the medical transaction is between the patient and the doctor, a third person, the insurer, is largely the one who foots the bill. Insured Americans pay very little, if anything, out-of-pocket for medical services.\nWhy do we expect someone else to pay for so much of our medical expenses? We don't demand that our car insurance pay for oil changes and tire rotations but we expect teeth cleanings and physicals to be free. "Most Americans today are grossly overinsured for minor medical expenses and underinsured for rare but staggering expenses," Alan Reynolds, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, said last year to creators.com. \nSome may argue, "But what about every American's right to affordable health care?" No one has a right to affordable health care in America or anywhere else because a right is something exercised freely and without impediment to others. But in order to satisfy a "right" to health care, government must first take something from somebody else. Theft is theft, even if you're robbing Peter to pay Paul.\nWith the upcoming election, politicians will be pushing for more rules and regulations on the health care books. But any effort to simplify the system would return more power and control to the patient. Patients should pay for routine medical visits and insurance should be reserved for very high expenses. Perhaps then we can finally see competition among doctors and a dramatic increase in the quality of health care. \nI long for the day when I can walk into a doctor's office and see something that I've never seen before: a price list.