Health Care is a hot potato in American Politics. The problem is literally quality of life. A problem this deep requires a deeper response. Any true solution begins with the question: “What is the right thing to do?”

Insurance companies are demanding that the insured assume a portion of the cost because there is no other control. Ultimately, prices are negotiated before service is performed. Crass and harsh as it may sound, medical care is still a market. That is why insurance companies issue price schedules. It is up to the patient (customer) to see that the doctors office or hospital (vendor) manages affairs efficiently.

So we fix the system with lists. Lists are still being taught. You cannot have a program without a list. This idea is so simple, we all think it is the answer to our problems. Yet, when we are faced with a terrible situation, the lists thrown at us overwhelm. We have lists of surgeries, of drugs, of side effects (which we have to recognize), of costs, of options, of interest rates, of doctors, of other practitioners, all of which is compounded by a list of symptoms that so overwhelmed our personal system to threaten our very quality of life, and cause us to seek help. Remember, we are expected to remove emotion for our current actions. Now is when the negotiations matter most, and when we should rely on our insurance companies’ list of costs. Unfortunately, they are not allowed into the examination room.

Thus, the answer is to have an insurance system for the basically reasonable, with copays. Those of a less litigious nature will follow the system, like lemmings. So be it. But for the extremes, and we know there will be some, we need reform. Doctors are trusted with great responsibility, and thus can make some extremely bad mistakes. The answer here is loser pays. The method to separate the men from the boys is to induce stress. Loser pays, will make people much less susceptible to ambulance chaser lawyers.

And so, we arrive at two critical answers to health care, that have nothing to do with doctors or hospitals, on the surface. However, politics is rarely about the surface. The under currents are our education system and our legal system. Each is driving health care costs up in exponential ways. Fixing each will change the philosophy we live by. We need to return to a place where we all understand what we are asking others to endure. We need to change the way we raise our young, and resolve our conflicts. Enact tort reform and our health care system will right itself.