Perhaps this is one reason "our Health care costs are high"...and thank goodness.

There was an accident near my house yesterday. Someone on a bicycle ran into someone in a car. The bike rider lost. I did not see the accident but my road was closed when I got home, so I knew something serious had happened. A few minutes after I got home I heard the sound of a helicopter flying very low. I went out to see what was going on and saw a medevac copter landing on the soccer field of the school up the street. The local ambulance corps caring for the injured person drove up to the school and transferred them into the copter and off they went. I pray that they will be fine.

Anyway, I have done some research into the claim that the US spends more per capita than any other country on health care. This is true, without a doubt. But my research, cursory as it is, lead me to the conclusion that we spend more BECAUSE WE CHOOSE TO SPEND MORE. This is a very important point. There are a lot of very expensive, intensive health care options which we choose to take advantage of.

This medevac option is probably one of them. I live in a small town in southeastern PA. No more than a few thousand people. And yet that copter was there wihin 20 minutes of the accident. Now, someone is going to pay for that service - probably the injured party's insurance company. I am sure that it is very expensive. And I am sure that it is worth every penny.

There were no medevac helicopters when I was a kid and my parents were responsible for paying for my health care. I pay much more than my parents ever thought of paying for coverage for my family. Some of that amount that I pay is because medevac helicopters are available and are used whenever they are useful - like the bike accident outside my home last night. Would I opt to pay less and not have access to medvacs? Would you? If ubiquitous access to medevacs are part of the reason that our health cares costs are so high then what does it mean to when our politicians say that "we must bring down the cost of health care."? What are they planning on cutting out?

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