Pay less, live longer

Dear Editor:

I’m lucky I have health insurance through my employer. To pay for the coverage money is taken out of my paycheck. I also have additional payments for the coverage when I go to the doctor in the form of co-pays.
If I need a treatment, test or prescription, I pay out of my pocket until my deductible is met. Then I pay 20% of the bill until my out-of-pocket expenses are met.

If I reach my out-of-pocket limit, I still have to pay co-pays for doctors visits and prescriptions. Then, on June 30, the whole paying process starts all over again for another year. I pay and I pay for health care, and when I have been really sick and admitted into the hospital I really pay. I guess what I am saying is that health care is expensive.

Health care is expensive. One day I was flipping through the January 2010 issue of National Geographic magazine and I came across a graph. I was shocked to find out the United States spends more on health care per person ($7,290) than most of the first world countries.

The other countries compared on the graph per person spending were: Switzerland $4,417, Luxembourg $4,162, Canada $3,895, Austria $3,763, France $3,601, Denmark $3,512, Sweden $3,323, Australia $3,237, United Kingdom $2,992, Finland $2,840, Spain $2,671, Japan $2,581, New Zealand $2,510, Portugal $2,150, South Korea $1,688, Czech Republic $1,626, Slovak Republic $1,555, Hungary $1,388, Poland $1,035 and Mexico $823.

Then the graph went on to point out that the citizens who live in the first 15 countries on the list have longer life expectancies than in the United States. They pay less and live longer than us. Go figure.

Let’s catch up to the rest of the world and pay less and live longer. Call your representative in Congress today and demand health care reform.

David Griffiths
Morgan County