A Secondhand Perspective on a Health Care Crisis

I was at my mechanic today, chatting up with the owner's daughter, only to learn the owner had been hospitalized today for a diabetic condition. Turns out the owner did not have health insurance, as the soaring costs of premiums had resulted in a tab of $2,400 a month for the four employees in the business. Why? Insurance companies do not want to accept customers with pre-existing conditions, and hence such patients are forced to fork over exorbitant premiums to participate in plans will allow them in.

Here is a businessman whose family has run this shop for decades, long enough to qualify to be a historical feature of the city. And yet we have a health care system than endangers the well-being of such a model citizen! For politicians to pretend that there isn't a crisis is disingenous, and while I don't believe in a huge government solution like some, government's got to be part of the solution.