Paul,
I could not agree more with you and have used the very same milk analogies. The basic problem, however, and the one that separates healthcare from everything else is that our liberal, do-gooder politicians have brainwashed us into believing "It is a right!" I guess that implies having a roof over your head, food in your belly and clothes on your back are not. When I first started in medicine in 1975, as a PA in a small Kentucky town, my doc and I frequently accepted sacks of tomatoes, country hams, hand-made pillows and fried apple pies as payment for services. Patients would barter with us. They needed medical care, we needed a fence row cleaned out...both sides were happy. The patients did not expect something for nothing. Try that today and Medicare would be on you like stink on s%#t because you would be giving away care to some but not to all. I can't tell you how much fun and satisfying medicine was in those days. My happiest days now are when I go out to see my Amish friends, provide some medical care to a family and come home with a side of bacon or a hoof trim/shoeing for one of my horses. Many times I have considered leaving my city practice and becoming an country doctor for the Amish settlements near by...driving my horse and buggy to their houses. Problem is, my mortgage lender won't take bacon as payment on my house loan.
Leslie
