If your child is sick, what do you do? Do you try to take care of it at home? At what point do you decide to take your child to a doctor? If the doctor's office is closed, do you run to the hospital, or stick it out till you can get an appointment with your regular pediatrician? Do you take your child in for any and all illnesses just in case? Or are you content to ride it out at home? Does your child's school require a doctor's note to come back to school? Are you afraid that if you don't take your child to the doctor and something goes horribly wrong that you will be charged with negligence or endangerment? All of these questions and the way you answer them has an impact on our health care costs.

In the past, health care was something you paid for out of pocket. An expense like anything else that you just paid for as you went. People didn't run to the doctor till it was really serious, a matter of possible life or death. We have learned though that some things can be prevented, and even cured if discovered and treated early enough. Thus we invented the term "preventative care". This is a great idea in theory. Go to the doctor just in case it can be cured before it gets bad. But this idea also means that people are "trained" to go to the doctor at the earliest sign of a health issue, even if a doctor visit isn't really necessary. We are told to forget common sense and homeopathic remedies and only rely on a doctor's opinion. That leads us back to the cost issue. If you are taught to go the the doctor instantly, instead of waiting it out, you are going to have, and pay for, alot more doctor's visits throughout your life. We are being taught to fear what will happen to us if we don't go to the doctor right away. Insurance companies are making a killing on the belief that we have to obtain a doctor's opinion on every cold and flu, or ache and pain that we get.

We are now forced to get insurance for a couple reasons. #1. You believe that you and your children are entitled to see a doctor for every little thing and you couldn't pay to see the doctor that often. #2. If you did have a major injury or illness, you would demand every treatment and medical option available whether you could pay for it or not. #3. If you failed to obtain medical treatment for your child you could be charged with a crime against the child, even if you could not pay for the treatment.

Let's discuss the last two items on my list. When was it in history that we decided we had to have every single life saving measure available even if we couldn't pay for it? If we can't pay we can use insurance, or if the costs exceed our insurance, it will come out of our estates when we do die. What happened to just accepting the inevitable whether it be death or recovery, without placing unnecessary financial burdens on ourselves or loved ones? The medical field has been able to advance the life giving capabilities of modern medicine to a point were people are being kept alive long past their time. I value life very much, but I don't want to be a living freak show in a hospital, being kept alive just for the sake of being charged for every last day they can squeeze life into my body. Talk about playing God.

Now on the other point of being responsible for your minor child and choosing whether or not to receive care. If you don't choose to get treatment for your child, and the child dies, or becomes incapacitated because of your choice, you could be charged with a crime. That's right, a crime. Because you see, it doesn't matter that medical care costs money, the child must receive care because we are trained to get help now, and pay for the rest of our life later.Anybody will tell you that their child is worth it. I don't think there are many people that would knowingly withhold care from a child that obviously needed it. But what if it wasn't obvious? For instance, when my son was 5 he went running across his room with hardwood floors and stepped on a roller blade. It went shooting out behind him and he went face first into his metal bed frame. It smashed him right between the eyes and the bridge of his nose. Now, there was no blood, but you could see it start to form a huge knot under the skin. He was screaming and crying, so he didn't get knocked unconscious. When he calmed down we knew enough to suspect a concussion, and gave him the "how many fingers am I holding up" test. He failed miserably. So, I made the decision, mostly out of fear, to take him to the hospital (it was 9:00pm). I say fear because a bad concussion can cause bleeding in the brain and possibly death. There were two things to fear: my child could die from a stupid accident, and if he did die, I would be held responsible for not obtaining the proper care for him at the time. Fortunately, I had the state's health insurance plan for him, so I was covered. But here's a thought; what if we didn't have insurance? What would you do? Most minor hospital visits range from $700-$1500 based on how much they actually do to you. My child ended up being diagnosed with a minor concussion, no tests were ordered, and we had to stay about 4 hours to be observed and he ended up being fine. I would rather have stayed home and observed him. I already had guessed that he had a minor concussion, and I could've saved the insurance costs to boot.

The only thing I really got for all the money spent that night in the ER was peace of mind. And that's all we are really paying for nowadays. Peace of mind with a really big price tag. I believe that there are a few common sense ways to lower our health care costs. #1. Only go to the doctor when necessary, and not out of fear. #2. Be realistic about optional treatments. Will something really help your quality of life? Or are you becoming an expensive guinea pig? #3. Doctors need to stop working for drug companies,and empower people to take charge of their own health. "Preventative medicine" can be achieved at home with a good diet, vitamins and homeopathic remedies. #4. Stop prosecutors from bringing charges against parents or involving CPS for not making the "right" decision regarding their children's health. Don't you think parents are already punishing themselves when something goes wrong? We don't need the threat of legal action complicating our health care decisions and driving up costs.

In conclusion, we need to go back to a common sense way of life. I think we have been led like sheep to believe that we know nothing about our own bodies, and that its wrong to do (or not do) anything without the approval of a doctor. Then they sell us high priced insurance policies and make us feel entitled to the best care available, so that we will keep consuming health services. Hmmm, ever heard of brainwashing?