Overhaul of system would be reckless

Joseph Schillmoeller, Las Vegas

Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.

We all want health care to be affordable. But the “public option” isn’t the way. If you turn health care into a government-run operation, it will be run like a government operation.

If the public option plan is enacted, tens of million of people could be thrust into that system immediately. That overload would mean you might have to wait extensive periods for urgent care because of too many bodies and not enough doctors and technicians to handle them.

That means a level of service like that at the DMV, post office or a Social Security office. And if you load all these people into the new “public option,” what kind of doctors are we going to get? Twenty-five-year-old wet-behind-the-ears medical school graduates? The operation will be akin to a M*A*S*H unit. Is that what we want for our citizens?

Costs can be dropped dramatically in other ways. Tort reform is essential. Frivolous lawsuits are estimated to account for up to 30 percent of the increase in insurance rates. Streamlining reporting procedures would save billions, as would going after the fraud in Medicare, which has been estimated to be up to 10 percent of cost. Also, promote the existing free health care benefits available to all U.S. citizens. Interstate competition also might reduce costs — the list is endless.

To resort to a complete overhaul of the health care system is both ludicrous and extremely dangerous. Idealism is wonderful, but paying for that pie-in-the-sky world view is another matter.