It is said that the French Revolution boiled over when, upon being told that the people had no bread to eat, Marie Antoinette flippantly replied:
“No bread? Well, then let them eat cake!”
This scenario reflects the current situation with medical care in Colorado and the nation. For every physician graduating from medical school, 10 administrators are hired by insurance companies. This top-heavy structure continues to perpetuate itself as approximately 35 percent of the professional budget of the average doctor in the U. S. now goes to hire staff in order to get paid. And all of this while Steven Helmsley, the president of United Health Care, grossed $66 million last year. That’s $185,000/day while 87,000 Coloradoans are completely uninsured.
The United States of America is the only developed country that does not have a universal health care program. The results of such social abuse is reflected in high infant mortality, maternal mortality and lower life expectancy.
And yet, we pay out twice as much as any other nation (per capita) on our pharmacy bill!
Doctors now, in effect, work at the pleasure of insurance companies, whose prime motivation is profit and whose stock is sold on the exchange. Only 12 percent to 17 percent of a doctor’s time during hospital duty is now spent with patients.
The Affordable Care Act includes four levels. The highest of these is “platinum.” Shouldn’t all citizens be covered at this level? ColoradoCare, under Amendment 69, offers this to all citizens, and with no copays and no deductibles. Each Coloradoan would carry a smart card with their entire medical history. Slide the card, the doc gets paid within two weeks. Under ColoradoCare, the average family saves $2,100/ year. a
And this is not big government. It is a co-op program just like your credit union or your rural electric service. Government cannot tamper with it, thank God! Check out the video: “Now is the time” or go to ColoradoCare.org. I have heard the evidence and it is convincing: “Thou shalt not eat cake while thy countrymen starve.”
James A. Mischke
Cortez
