Health insurance gets a lot of attention from candidates and in the media. What the media fails to do is ask difficult questions and to report on the candidates proposals not only for reining in the costs of health insurance, but for containing the costs of health care as well.

While John McCain’s official Web pages decidedly lack any substantial plan for health care reform, refreshingly Barack Obama’s site is detailed and comprehensive, discussing solutions for both the health insurance and the health care crisis.

When Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his farewell speech in 1961, he indirectly coined the phrase “military-industrial complex.” He never used those exact words, but correctly observed that this country’s burgeoning technology and military force had dangerous potential and might undermine the very democracy that allowed it to flourish and grow. His Casandra-like inspiration should give us all pause. Those who bet their money on his accuracy by investing in the companies that today stand at the zenith of that complex are very wealthy. Eisenhower couldn’t have been more right if he had flown into the future and reported back.

He missed one angle though. He neglected to add the medical-insurance complex into the mix. How could he know? While medicine had made huge strides after the the two world wars, ravages of disease were still fought with rather commonplace weapons with the exception of penicillin, which was hailed as the “wonder drug.” We all know how that turned out. Medicine was still an emerging industry and house calls were still in vogue. A hospital was place few went.

Not anymore. A cancer patient is admonished to take the latest cure. “This will add months to your life,” we are told. We are so afraid of dying that we cling to an extra few months of life, even though those few months might be months of pain, trips in and out of the hospital, and enormous emotional strain on both patient and family.

While certainly the miracles of modern medicine are many, the costs to the patients and families are tremendous, and not all outcomes are happy ones. The treatments are pushed regardless of the probability of success. The medical complex gets more powerful and richer and sometimes all we get are an extra three months. We are guinea pigs in a huge medical experiment. The drug companies own our souls, and the insurance companies suck us dry promising to protect us. What insurance policy ever stopped someone from dying?

It’s all smoke and mirrors, and a lot of people make millions from the illusion.
All the health insurance reform in the world will not fix the problem until the actual health care system is revamped and made egalitarian.

Visit Barack Obama’s health care pages; here at least you will find a structured and detailed outline, the beginning of a focused plan. McCain offers nothing but foggy platitudes. And considering where his support and money come from, it is clear that he is beholden to the same pocketbooks that put Bush in office. No doubt McCain will be manipulated by the puppeteers who control Bush, who have stripped programs that support citizens and spent our money on the multinational corporations getting rich off the war for oil.

Health insurance and health care reform must be done simultaneously. Physicians cannot be left out of that reform. Malpractice insurance costs have skyrocketed so that it is impossible for a doctor to work outside of corporate affiliations. When was the last time you visited a doctor working alone with a small staff? You may not even know that your doctor is part of a larger organization, but rest assured she is.

Health care workers are in the same league as teachers. Both need salaries commensurate with their worth and abilities. Why does a man who runs touchdowns or a celebrity who takes off most of her clothes get paid more than the people we entrust to our health and our education?

Of all the world’s wealthy nations, and the United States is the only one to deny its citizens inexpensive (even free) health care. Sure the people in those countries pay higher taxes, but they are rewarded with well-funded, affordable health care systems available to everyone, even those who find themselves in need of care while visiting.

Recognize that McCain’s plan is airy-fairy and his proposals are outdated and didn’t work the first time around (like his “docs in box” idea which has been tried unsuccessfully by the corporate medical industry). Be sure, if it had worked and had been profitable, there would be a McDoc on every street corner.

Medical care is like the evening news. It’s a loss leader. There is no money in it, and there should not be. The words profit and health care should not share verbs in the same sentence.

Let me tell you about two friends. One had enjoyed great health all his life. He rode his bicycle everywhere and ate healthy food. He did not have health insurance because he was self-employed. He had a tickle in his throat and it did not go away. It got worse. He was afraid to seek health care before he got some kind of insurance for fear whatever was wrong would be considered a “pre-existing” condition. So he waited. And while he waited his condition got worse. His treatment (ultimately funded by Medicaid) was more difficult, time-consuming, and costly to him and the system. He is one of millions.

My other friend, also without health insurance, opted to fly to Thailand to have surgery that she had put off for so many years that her hernia had become the size of a softball and she was in extreme pain. Why did she go to Thailand? The trip including the airfare and the surgery was cheaper than what it would have cost in the United States for someone without insurance. Yes, it’s true just like Michael Moore showed us in Sicko ; there is exceptional health care in other countries and it costs less.

In addition to receiving skilled and courteous treatment by the medical workers and physicians, she reported that the hospital accommodations were like staying a spa: delicious food; first-rate care; and pleasant, beautiful surroundings.

Please understand that these two friends and millions like them make the choice to forgo health care with great angst. But what do you do when the choice is food and shelter versus health care? Self-employed persons, once the mainstay of our economy are becoming an endangered species. Even small companies are falling victim to the escalating health insurance costs, often costing upwards of $7,000 per year per employee.

It just doesn’t take much effort to find better systems than the one in the United States. So when are we going to join the rest of the civilized world and provide adequate, affordable, and universal health care?