My wife and I recently enjoyed a wonderful vacation in England and have not been around to witness most of the town hall "debates" on the Obama Administration's proposed health care reforms.  Frankly, the "debates" and media coverage of these events are not satisfying.  Health care is really to complex of a topic to discuss with effectiveness and coherence in emotional town hall forums.  There is plenty of criticism to level at both sides in this debate.  The childlike faith of Obamites in the public option is native and appalling given the historical record of nationalized health care in countries such as Britain and Canada.  When I was in England, there was a story in the news that Britain's government run National Health Service had actually allowed a 16 year old to answer questions about the H1N1 flu on a government sponsored phone line concerning this critically important public health issue.  Do we really want an untrained adolescent providing public health advice in the U.S?  Nationalized health care, unfortunately, produces higher taxes, long waits for specialized services, lower service quality, impersonal relationships between doctors and patients, and rationed health care in certain cases.

The U.S. health care system is, in many ways the best in the world, but still has serious flaws.  There is insufficient competition in many areas of health care service, choice, and delivery such as pharmaceutical drugs, the ability to buy insurance across state lines, the shocking absence of electronic record keeping, and considerable waste in health care practices that can ruin families finances.  My brother and I are having to confront our parents declining health by working with an incoherent Medicare program that does not encourage individuals and families to save their money and effectively requires them to spend down their financial resources before they can become eligible for Medicare, Medicaid, and other governmental health programs even if they have been wise stewards of their financial resources.  High malpractice costs for doctors are another problem which conservatives have been better at recognizing than liberals.  To many conservative critiques of Obama health care proposals are not addressing these realities and engaging in infantile bashing of Obamite reform proposals without offering credible substantive alternatives that address the real needs of everyday people.  Conservatives also need to address the reality of large numbers of uninsured people having to turn to emergency rooms as their sole medical care providers and need to support methods such as cooperatives that allow self-employed individuals and small businesses to purchase health insurance at affordable rates.  As a long-time member of a financial credit union, I'm a strong supporter of private sector cooperatives which are customer owned and provide more prudent financial management and effective oversight than commercial banks and insurance companies.

We need to place greater emphasis on disease prevention with particular emphasis on obesity, anti-smoking measures, and alcohol abuse which are major drivers of health care costs.  We also need to eliminate cosmetic surgeries unless they are required to repair damage caused by auto accidents or fires.  We also must face the realith that we will all EVENTUALLY DIE and quit clinging to the hope that more and better medical care or increased medical research funding for the disease du jour is the ultimate solution to our health care problems.  Individual need to be able to take existing insurance policies and be able to transfer them easily if they change jobs and those with preexisting conditions such as allergies (which I have) should not have to worry about losing insurance coverage becuase of these innate conditions.  Doctors and specialists need to do a better job or not ordering unnecessary medical tests and medical schools need to place greater emphasis on training general practitioners and preventative health specialists instead of esoteric specialists such as cosmetic surgeons.

All sides in this debate need to recognized that nationalized health care has not effectively addressed health care problems in countries which have made that choice and that there are significant problems with the current U.S. health care system that cannot be resolved by relying on market forces alone or rhetorical incantations against socialized medicine.  Individuals should communicate with their congressional representatives constructive suggestions for improving our health care system which can include stories of problems and successes they have had with their own medical care.  They should also actually try reading the text of proposed legislation submitted by all participants in this debate instead of relying on distorted media or interest group interpretations of these proposals.

Our private sector health insurance system, including employer provided health insurance, needs to be encouraged to make positive reforms to expand access to this system.  Infantile class warfare bashing of insurance companies is counterproductive and only furthers the agenda of leftist class warriors.  Developing truly effective health care reform will take several years and involve multiple choices for consumers.  It will not be achieved within the narrow parameters of presidential political priorities or the constraints of two year congressional legislative sessions.  It must produce real reductions in medical costs for individual and families, not deter physicians for pursuing medical careers, and not increase the federal deficit or national debt.