Gary Scarborough

This isn't a question of science, its a question of morality. We cured these diseases a long time ago, yet we refuse to recreate the cure because there is no profit in it. This is purely a question of morality. Do we save the poor or let them die? All health care workers take an oath to help those who are need. Why do we not hold the pharma companies to the same oath? And while right now its mostly happening to third world countries, the divide between rich and poor in this country is getting bigger. How long before most people in our own country can't afford medicine?

There are many things that are needed to make our health care system work. Many of them are things that we as Americans have been trained to go against, some are so easy they are common sense.

1. I have long believed that health care should be non profit. I am not talking about the doctors themselves, or the nurses and countless others. I am talking strictly about drug companies and health care systems that this country has. Health care should be a public utility. We all want health care. And currently, we give health care to everyone whether they have insurance or not. So why target the drug companies? Well when companies spend more money on advertising a prescription only drug than they do on research, are they really looking out for the customer? After all, only the doctors really need to know about the new drugs, since they are the ones that write the prescriptions. Also, most drugs that are developed by drug companies (like 80%) offer no new or negligible value compared to the drugs already on the market. For drug companies, there is a conflict of interest in developing cheap cures. They don't make money on them. Compare that to an expensive treatment that will keep the unhealthy coming back for a long period of time. Is it really a drug companies best interest to find cures or treatments? As for insurance companies, it is in their best interest to deny coverage as much as possible. This is so common place that movies have been made on cases of this abuse.

2. Health care should be paid out as part of our taxes. Once you eliminate the price gouging of drug companies and insurance companies, it gets a lot cheaper to just pay for all the health care costs in the country. Everyone then pays their share as a percentage of their income. Nobody has to do without because they lost their job or had an accident and can't work.

3. People used to only go to the hospital if they were dying because it cost so much. But today can cost so much more to not go to the doctor. We need to educate people on getting check ups. Preventative medicine would have a huge impact on long term costs. Case in point: high blood pressure is a fairly common ailment. It is also fairly easy to regulate with the wide variety of medicines available. By taking $0.50 worth of medicine a day, people can avoid the long term problems that come from leaving it untreated. How much do you think it costs to treat advanced kidney disease, heart attacks, or stroke?

Medicine and science used to be far more open than they are today. Now we have profit mongering corporations who try to patent even the very essence of the human body(DNA). We can change, but we have to be willing to try. Otherwise the system will eventually collapse as only the very rich will be able to afford health care.