One of the most important issues in the primaries was that of healthcare, but during the beginning of this general cycle it has sort of slid down the important list behind war and gas prices. It will most like still be a very important issue when the general begins in earnest. Each candidate has their approach and the voter will use which they feel is the best as a benchmark for their support.

Obama’s most likely will be a mandate sort of approach, similar to that of Clinton’s; McCain’s answer will be some sort of tax break with incentives to buy insurance. Both approaches are crap! Neither plan will do anything to ease the financial burden of a major illness. Just delay it.

The prevention method is for the immediate benefit of the insurance companies, not the people it is suppose to help. This approach is supposed to save the people money by making them healthy and in turn less likely to need medical attention. All the programs on smoking and eating and the emphasis on screening and testing are to help the people manage their health. But the people will still be paying the high insurance premiums whether they are healthy or not. So who really benefits there?

The problem with this thinking is that the healthier a person is the longer they live and in doing so will become frail and sickly in their declining years. In those later years the chances of more expensive procedures like hip or knee replacement, extended hospital stays are extremely expensive. The chances of the person getting cancer or Alaheimer’s are pretty high and that is a very expensive medical treatment also.

A prevention program is a lofty and well intended goal, but in the long run there will be NO savings on high priced medical care. Healthier long lives may not be the answer to keeping medical costs down in the long run, just a postponement

Still the only true way to insure that a person, regardless of age, gets the proper medical attention, is a single payer system. It is simple and equal..