YOUR VOICE: Public option needed for health care reform

As a physician, I see the havoc our “free market” wages on our well being every day.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think the free market works well for simple items like cars and televisions. But it has failed to work, and it will never work, for our health care system.

The free market fails us in health care because the basic economic laws of supply and demand are not obeyed with respect to health care.

On the demand side, consumers do not make decisions based on cost, or even relative quality. They make decisions based on emotion and feelings.

Let’s say a loved one, a spouse or parent perhaps, develops cancer or other life-threatening illness. Furthermore, let’s imagine that two treatment options are offered us, one which has a slightly higher cure rate but costs a great deal more.

Who among us will decide to save all that money and choose the option which has a slightly greater chance of failing? Thankfully, we make our decisions based on compassion and love, not on cold-hearted economic laws.

The supply side also fails the laws of economics. The single goal of a for-profit insurance company is to make a profit. The best way to do this is by not paying for or providing health care to the consumer. So it has departments set up to find ways to deny care, to avoid insuring unhealthy people who need the care, and to prevent persons from getting more costly, effective care.

This is contrary to the way we think of most industries where the way to make a profit is to create and sell more product.

Police and fire departments provide service to everyone regardless of their ability to pay. Similarly, it is time we stop thinking of health care as a business and realize we are dealing with a fundamental human right for all persons. Our representatives must support a public option in health care reform.

Peter Kliewer is a Tacoma physician.