Letter to the Editor

A letter my husband wrote to the local newspaper:

A Healthcare Consumer Right: Prices

President Obama is making an overhaul of the healthcare industry a major priority of his administration. Most Americans agree that we spend too much money on healthcare. Obama favors the approach to solving this problem which is taken by most of the countries around the world. His approach combines universal coverage with government rationing of healthcare. Rationing is the only way to significantly decrease the total amount of money spent yearly on healthcare.

However, there is a better way to ration healthcare than the arbitrary will of corruptible government central planners. There is a way to ration healthcare which would allow individuals liberty to decide what kind and how much healthcare is right for them. This form of rationing, this most basic form of capitalism, is called PRICES. Consumers ought to be able to compare the price of healthcare services before they consume them.

When was the last time you visited the doctor's office, underwent a procedure, or stayed a night in the hospital and knew what it was going to cost before you went? When was the last time that you shopped around for the least expensive health care providers? Would you buy a car or house without shopping around? Upfront pricing would force medical providers to compete with each other for customers based upon price, and competition always leads to lower prices.

Please help bring upfront prices back to healthcare! Demand that your local healthcare provider present a pricelist before you use their service; and contact your government representatives to ask them to bring forth antitrust legislation mandating that healthcare providers publish a pricelist of all their services in an easy to understand format. Help bring prices back to healthcare!

Brody Smith
West Plains, MO