March 01, 2007

A single line law could be more than just a Band-Aid

Sir, Jacob Weisberg makes a good description of the “Symptoms of an unsustainable system” that the American healthcare is showing, March 1, but he seems to miss out on the worst which is that while being a non-insured might be bad enough, it is really than having to pay for the insured that makes it truly miserable. Currently the non-insured that has to negotiate on his own always ends up paying many times more for his medicine and healthcare services than those insured whose price negotiations were handled by powerful and knowledgeable insurance companies. A small single line law, “thou shall not charge the weak and lonely any higher prices than you charge the strong in company”, could eliminate most of the current injustices but, then again, that might also be against the nature of the so many Americans that seem to find a somewhat curious masochistic pleasure in fending for themselves.