Can We Talk Healthcare?

Those of you that know me in real life know that I own a company that helps with the administrative portion of physician practices. This puts me into a sort of unique position to discuss this issue. I see the results of people who have lost their jobs and thus lost their insurance (keep in mind that we here in the Mitten State have been especially hard hit) every day. The flip side of that is that I see the shrinking reimbursement that my clients are seeing from insurance companies on a daily basis.
Having said all of that I have to tell you that I do not support the plan that is being laid out right now. It shakes me to my very core. Does this make me a bad person? Does this make me a conservative crazy? Heck no. It makes me an American. Someone who sees the struggles that both sides are facing. And in my case, there is actually a third side-that of being a small business owner. A small business owner that can afford to purchase healthcare for me, McGyver and Dreamsicle but not for my employees. This is due to the current regulation that will not allow me to purchase the same low cost plan for my employees that I, as the business owner, can purchase. There are portions of the current plan that excite me-specifically to change the regulation that would allow us to band together with other small business owners to be able to supply our employees with affordable health insurance. There is nothing that would make me happier. But there are far more proposed changes that concern me. The cost to implement this overhaul is a big one. In my opinion, it would be impossible for a plan of this scope and size to not have a price tag associated with it. If that cost isn't absorbed by the taxpayers, is it then expected to be implemented by lowering (yet again) the reimbursement physicians are receiving? It has to come from somewhere folks. I believe that an overhaul of the healthcare system is necessary, but I also believe that something this important deserves much more time to develop. Let's take it slow, keeping open minds and open hearts instead of dividing by party lines.