Last week my hypochondriac cousin told me about her latest ailments – all of which to me sounded like a sinus headache. However, she wasn’t convinced. So she sought out and visited a neurologist, and an MRI later, it was determined that it was just that – a sinus infection.
Her concern is well-founded in many ways (our family has all sorts of strange disorders) but this time, a lot of money was spent for a diagnosis that a family doc could have easily given without the extras. Which got me thinking – if we expect the health care system to pay for any treatment we want, shouldn’t we expect to put more money into it?
Any other time we want extras, we pay: extra computer memory, higher price tag; silk instead of polyester, higher price tag; leather interior on that car, higher price tag. This is true for almost any consumer good or service you can imagine. So why would we expect it to be any different for health care?
It’s simple –if we want more on the front, we’ll have to pay more on the back end.
As we know, last week Congress passed historic legislation regarding health care. Many components of the legislation should be applauded, but there is still one area that I think falls short – addressing the rising cost of health care.
Doctors in this New York Times article come right out and say the health care reform bill gives them no reason to say “No” to people like my cousin who insist on a needless MRI – multiplied millions of times, that drives up health costs for all of us.
Until the system gives them that reason, it’s up to each of us – what can we do about the rising cost of health care? Here’s some ideas in these Five Questions.
