HEALTH CARE

The American health care system needs reform. Problems include excessively high cost for drugs (much higher than the cost of the same drugs elsewhere in the world); lack of insurance for many of our citizens, including many children; denial of benefits, including life-saving benefits, even to people with insurance because insurance companies judge giving the benefits not to be cost effective (I have loved ones who have experienced that problem); impoverishment of people who experience catastrophic--or sometimes non-catastrophic--health problems; and excessive litigiousness that puts an excessive strain on the resources of many professionals in health care. A solution to these problems will need to be multifaceted and carefully crafted. Ie recognize that government health care in some countries has diminished the incentives for the best people to become physicians and has resulted in mediocre health care for most people, with the highest quality health care available only to the wealthy. I hope reform of America's health care system can avoid these problems. But I believe some kind of national health care plan is essential and that adequate health care--both physical and mental--should be available to every American. Such a plan will actually help small businesses (as I have learned from some who run such businesses) by helping them be more competitive with larger businesses that more easily provide health care for their employees. A national health care plan that has an element of flexibility (such as Obama's plan, in which individual participation is not mandatory) may help resolve some of the problems mentioned and may also be more acceptable to Americans, who prize their independence.