There is a great debate going on this summer about the direction of health insurance. We Americans pay the most money per capita for one of the worst health care systems in the world, lower than all the industrialized countries and some third world countries. We spend 85% of our health care dollars heroically keeping people alive for the last one and a half years of their life. The insurance companies skim off 35% of all health care dollars, while denying us “health care”. They only pay for a diagnosable illness. The insurance companies like the system just the way it is.

So, we have drifted into an upside-down “death care system”. It is inneficient and quite unethical. An ethical system, if we insist upon it, pays for preventative and wellness care. Waiting until it breaks down is terribly expensive, same as it would be for your car.

Medical doctors should be paid bonuses for bringing their patient’s blood panels up to healthy levels. Hospitals have the facilities where disabled patients could go to exercise, learn how to eat healthy and have routine stress testing. The emphasis, and financial bonuses, should be targeted toward becoming healthier instead of waiting until there is a breakdown.

Orthopedists, Chiropractors and Physical Therapists should be paid well when they realign the primary curves of the spine and teach people to never limp, to have good posture. Postural x-rays easily confirm the results.

All of the professions should be responsible for tested results, and their pay should mirror their success. The dental profession has done this on their own. The word “doctor” means teacher.