by Pete Lucas, a contributing author:

As a conservative, I’m not a fan of national healthcare. I believe the government should do a minimal amount of intervention - namely they should take care of the elderly, infirmed, and children who would otherwise not be taken care of. Ideally this care would be done by charities, but since the government taxes us to the tune of 30% a year, we can’t give nearly as much to charity as we otherwise would.

Able-bodied individuals who do not have insurance, either by choice or by laziness… those people just need to suck it up. If you are working and choose not to have insurance because you want to save the money - you are just asking for trouble. It’s not MY fault you are taking that risk, and I certainly shouldn’t have to pay for your decision should you get sick.

Of the estimated 46 million people without insurance, it’s estimated that more than half of them are uninsured by choice. They just don’t want to pay for it. That’s fine with me, but don’t come crying when you get cancer or have a heart attack. A big chunk of the uninsured are illegal aliens - who shouldn’t be given treatment EVER. Again, your decision to break the law does not constitute an emergency on my part, and by treating illegal aliens, we are encouraging more people to cross the border for treatment.

I have insurance. It’s not great insurance, but I’m covered if something catastrophic happens. I have a high deductible, so I’m careful not to go to the doctor unless it’s important. My personal investment in the plan encourages me to be responsible.

But then there’s the issue of malpractice and malpractice insurance.

Last week, a board certified orthopedic surgeon ACCIDENTALLY broke my wrist in his office while trying to rupture a cyst. He literally crushed my wrist with a vice until the bone snapped, all without anesthetic.

My momentary case of Turrete’s Syndrome aside, this type of blatant negligence is uncalled for. For all intents and purposes, I could sue the man for a ton of money for negligence and for the pain he caused me. I could even argue I’d be justified.

However, I’d be perpetuating a problem… the price of healthcare is constantly going up because when someone is injured by a doctor, they can sue for millions of dollars. Never mind that even if the person can never work again, his or her lifetime earnings potential was probably only a million or two. These arbitrary and astronomical damages are killing us.

Do you think that insurance companies lose money? Of course not. They pass on the cost to us. A few people are making out like bandits and the rest of us are paying for it.

In my case, I expect the doctor to pay for all of the treatment related to my broken wrist. He broke it… it’s his responsibility. I went to a different doctor for treatment, and I had him bill the original doctor. If the doctor does the right thing, there’s no reason for me to sue him. And even if he refuses to pay for the treatments, I wouldn’t sue him for “pain and suffering.” I’d sue him to pay for the costs I incurred due to his negligence. Selfishness will not solve the problem.

If we don’t get our heads straight on the issues of healthcare, insurance, and malpractice lawsuits, we will stay on this collision course with national healthcare - with all of the rationing, inefficiency, and increased taxes that come with it.

Related Posts:

• Kathleen Sebelius making stuff up: Says US-run health care will never result in rationing
• Only 19% say it’s too hard to sue doctors, while 48% say too easy
• The internal contradictions of ObamaCare — James Pethokoukis
• Government vs. You: state denial of health care
• Economist — Free Health Care: But Not From The Government

Tags: healthcare, insurance, malpractice, Punitive Damages

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Johnson County, National, Opinion, Editorial, and Analysis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.