What is it about politicians that they all think they have to “reform” or “change” the systems they were elected to administer to . . . and a lot of things that they were not elected to manage, like businesses and healthcare.  The bloated bureaucracy in Washington, DC has a history of mismanaging nearly everything they touch, so what makes them think they can manage the healthcare of the USA, or General Motors, or Chrysler, or AIG, or CIT?

One unnamed auto executive, whose European headquartered company has several manufacturing operations in the USA cannot believe that American industry hasn’t come forward during the debate on healthcare and the government takeover of big parts of the auto, insurance and banking industries.  The current system that requires companies to provide health insurance for their employees at a cost of more than $10,000 annually per employee has made those companies uncompetitive in world markets.  What is the new plan going to cost them . . . and ultimately the consumer?  This auto exec went on to say that his company would be better off building cars in Mexico.

A number of people in the health field, most notably Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, have had caustic things to say about healthcare reform.  Most contend that it isn’t healthcare that needs reform, but the causes of the high healthcare costs; drug company monopolies, health and disease research, the treatment philosophy of the medical establishment and most of all, tort lawsuits that have driven up the cost of malpractice insurance.  Mike Adams, principal editor and contributor to “Natural News” (www.naturalnews.com) said in a column today, that we should cancel Congress and go to a true democracy where every citizen gets to vote on every issue.  Currently we have a “republic” or “representative democracy,” in which elected officials are supposed to act on the wishes of their electorate.  Since the majority of Americans do not favor the present Congressional bill, Congress is not representing the wishes of their constituency.

I have always thought that the United States has the finest healthcare and medical practitioners in the world.  This view began to change after my Russian wife pointed out that in Russia, the doctors treat the causes of illnesses, in the United States, the illnesses themselves are treated, usually by drugs.  My personal observations since this was pointed out to me are that she is right.  American medical practitioners are encouraged to use drug therapy by “Big Pharma” whose financial support of medical schools and hospitals reinforces their agenda of drug treatment for nearly every ailment.  Natural medications, many of which have been curing patients of a variety of illnesses for centuries, are discouraged by pharmaceutical companies because these natural products cannot be patented or controlled by them.

Fortunately for the American people, our founding fathers and the framers of our Constitution created a system of checks and balances.  This 1,900 page bill that no one has seems to have read still has to pass in the Senate and there is much opposition there.