The Heart Of The Health Care Crisis

The Heart Of The Health Care Crisis
John R. Petrilli

We’ve heard for years that health care costs have continued to skyrocket at unprecedented rates. This has put medical coverage and services literally out of reach for millions of Americans. Many are convinced the solution lies in a governmentally controlled, tax-payer funded universal health care program. I for one strongly disagree.

While working in a local pharmaceutical warehouse, I discovered that the markup for items between manufacturer and patient loomed as high as 2000 percent. Again, while working for a local dental equipment distributor I learned that a brand new dental chair the distributor purchased for 3,000 dollars would bring in 10,000 dollars. The problem isn’t in the insurance industry or the professionals of the medical community. It lies squarely in the lap of the pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment manufacturers, and distributors who are raking in extremely excessive profit margins. Price gouging is clearly the root of the problem. Thanks to these greedy enterprises, insurance firms have to escalate the premiums on previously affordable health insurance plans, while health providers pay outrageous prices for the latest technologies. Result? Americans can no longer pay the sky high premiums, and are often going without critically important and necessary medical care.

Let’s attack the real source of the problem, rather than throwing trillions of band-aid dollars into a national health care fiasco that will surely tank the remainder of the middle class with tax rates approaching 45% of their paychecks. Let’s insist on regulation of these runaway profiteers and the distributors who are in bed with them!