Matt Smallbone

This little health care skirmish that is going on in Washington has been interesting to watch. The current bill is pushing democracy to its limits… and it seems like it is going to take a fair bit of legislative sleight of hand to make any changes at all. I can’t imagine how hard it is for the elected officials of differing world views to sit in a room and make a group decision that will affect one-sixth of the economy. ONE-SIXTH!

This is important stuff, and they need to get it right.

I am from a country where our income is highly taxed in order that the state can help with health care. We have public hospitals and a pretty well organized Medicare system. It works OK… sometimes. In saying that… I know very few Australians who can afford private health insurance who don’t have it. ‘Private Health’ as we call it down under costs about 33% of what it does in the USA, and it covers a lot more.

My health insurance in the USA protects me from bankruptcy… and that is about it. I gave my company over $4k last year and received a $13 benefit.

I have but one request of the USA medical insurance system as we move forward. Here goes nothing…

(Clearing throat).

A few years ago, Al Gore (former VP of the USA from Tennessee) apparently was part of connecting our computers together with telephonic-like wires that enabled said computers to communicate with each other. He called this invention ‘The Internet’.

In most other first world countries, the Health Insurance companies have combined this technology with the use of a ‘credit card-like’ device that gets scanned at a medical practitioner’s clinic. With the use of big Al’s internet… the final amount owed is miraculously made immediately known to the sick person and it is settled on the spot. Wouldn’t that be something?

The saddest day of 2010 for the Smallbones came on October 16 when I was in Redlands, CA for a Michael W. Smith concert. I got a call from my wife with the devastating news that she was having a miscarriage. It was horrible to be away from home as our fourth child found his/her way to heaven in an ocean of his/her mother’s blood.

I only mention this for one reason…

Yesterday, March 15, 2010 I received my 13^th letter from my insurance company (just from the miscarriage) informing me that I “may or may not receive a $27.32 bill from Dr X of X Health Care Provider”.

Are you kidding me? Five- months later the bills are still coming? May or may not??!!

Something needs to change. The USA put man on the moon and gave us the assembly line. Health care is a problem that can and must be fixed. I hope that they can figure it out in Washington.

Actually… maybe Wal-Mart should be running the Health Industry. I’m pretty sure they have a system that involves the internet and card swiping. I’m nothing if not easily pleased.

Have a happy Tuesday,

Smalls

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 at 9:36 am and is filed under Politics. 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.