Recently, my husband needed ear drops for a gnarly ear infection. The first medication the doctor pulled up on her computer cost $400. The second one was about $200. She had to leave her office and look somewhere else to find one for $20.
First point, ear drops should never cost $400. For anybody. Even the insured (which he is). Even $200 is still completely unacceptable.
Secondly, the Hailey Medical Clinic computer system, and probably those of most other health care centers, is not set up to find or provide the least expensive drugs. Drug prices should be attached to all information that comes up about a drug, instantly, in every health-care clinic and pharmacy. Cost is not irrelevant.
Our health-care system is not set up for the benefit of patient. It is set up for the benefit of the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. These are middlemen. No one should be making a profit on sickness and disability. Profits should arise out of good things that happen within our society, not misfortunes.
Even though the U.S. House of Representatives has now passed legislation that would bring truly comprehensive health reform to America, before health reform can become law, after going through the Senate, it must pass one more time through the House of Representatives. This is the time to keep the pressure up. Our Idaho representative, Michael Simpson, voted against this legislation, and needs to hear from constituents who want affordable health care for the people, not for profit.
I urge you to contact Rep. Simpson online. Just Google "Idaho Representative Michael Simpson," and you can e-mail from there directly to him. Americans need and deserve healthcare for people, not for profit. Keep the pressure up. It is not a done deal yet.
Pamela Plowman Weston, R.N.
Hailey
