It is no secret that America's health care system is pleading for help. With 37 million Americans uninsured and the ever increasing medical care costs, it will take a magician to solve our medical woes. Various problems can be attributed to the world's most expensive health care--among them, inefficient hospitals that waste money on needless expensive equipment and doctors who order unnecessary tests because they fear malpractice suits. The average middle-class American family is finding it more difficult to pay for medical costs, while the insurers, doctors, and hospitals all seem to get richer. Everyone unanimously agrees that our current system is failing, yet Congress cannot agree on a solution.

With the upcoming election, many politicians have suddenly come up with a magical solution to our health care problems--a national health care program similar to the Canadian system. Like all of us, they would like to wave a magic wand, making our crisis disappear and providing everyone with insurance. Of course, realistically speaking, socialized medicine will be no better than our current system, if not worse. The national health insurance prescription could be deadly, saddling the economy with billions of dollars more in taxes while endangering the world-class research, free choice, and abundance of top quality provider that are the hallmarks of our system.

Will Americans be satisfied to wait in line for open-heart surgery? Of course not! Impatient Americans would be outraged. This system would also create more inefficient government bureaucracy as well as another class of free-loaders who would find some way to manipulate the system. Clearly, we must stick to our capitalistic philosophy. The government's role should not be to completely control the health care system, but instead, to revise and regulate our current system.

Promoting preventative health-care, restricting the liability of doctors, and raising insurance deductibles are a few simple steps that can be taken to improve our health care system. Cancer, strokes, and heart diseases account for much of America's health problems. Many of these afflictions that often require long-term care could be counteracted by improving wellness.If we all ate balanced diets, exercised, quit smoking, maintained our ideal weight, and drove safely, we would greatly reduce our chances of spending money on medical care.

By passing laws to protect doctors against ridiculous claims of malpractice, we could reduce our health care costs even more.If doctors did not have to worry about malpractice suits and greedy lawyers, the useless extra tests and x-rays would cease to exist, therefore reducing our medical bills. Also, because many of the deductibles on employer medical plans are so low, they tempt the consumer to overuse the system. Raised insurance deductibles will force people to be more responsible when deciding what medical care is necessary.

As for major changes in the system, I believe a total revision is in order--a mandatory catastrophic health care insurance, more "health competition," and changes in the Medicare and Medicaid policies. Regina Herzlinger states, "The absence of consumer vigilance in the health care industry has created the equivalent of the 17 foot car: overlarge and numerous hospitals loaded with redundant technology." Because consumers are not paying their bills directly and often employers choose their insurance policies for them, they do not shop around for the best policies at the lowest prices.

Therefore, I propose that all corporations stop selecting insurance for their employees. Instead, the employers should give the money they would spend on health care policies directly to employees. The employees would be responsible for choosing their own policies. This healthy competition will force hospitals and insurers to adapt to a freer market.

Also, as Herzlinger suggests, I believe a mandatory catastrophic health insurance is in order. If everyone is insured, the average American will not be directly responsible for paying expensive medical treatments or long hospital and nursing home stays. To monitor this, all Americans would be required to show on their tax returns that they have the appropriate amount of insurance. As for the poor, governmental supplements from the Medicare and Medicaid funds would be used to pay for their catastrophic policies. At the present time, Medicaid only covers one half of those below the poverty line. Clearly, this extra spending will require more taxes.

American citizens and Congress alike must decide that a raise in taxes is worth providing long-term health care for those who need it. There are various ways to acquire these funds: a one percent sales tax, a 50 cent charge on every monthly water bill, or the inevitable income tax hike. Whatever the case, something must be done to revise the system.

With all the problems of our current health care system, it is clear that a total revision of the system is needed. A combination of a free-market plan with some state and national funding will, in my opinion, work best for our country. I have only been able to cover the basic issues of this type of plan--it is time for Congress to agree and pass specific legislation to put a new system into effect. For one thing is clear, the problem will not magically disappear.

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