If you could fix just one thing in the health care industry, what would it be? "Cost," you may be inclined to answer. That is certainly an understandable response. For example, the average hospital charge in Iowa for outpatient cataract surgery can range from $3,603 to $4,460 -- and that does not include physician charges.

In Minnesota, the average cost for outpatient tonsillectomy is $6,243. In South Dakota, the median amount hospitals charged in 2007 for handling a chest pain was $7,155.81. A major medical expense could bankrupt someone who did not have insurance, and even those with insurance can pay significant amounts of money for health care. The cost of health care can be really frustrating if you spend money only to find out that health care experts can't figure out what is wrong with you.

Or you may be inclined to say "access." Access is less of a problem for many Americans simply because most Americans now live in urban areas, which is where advanced health care is found. Because of telemedicine, access is also less of a problem for those in rural areas now than it was in years past. And now we can go on the Internet to get information from the Telemedicine Information Exchange, which claims to be an "unbiased and all-inclusive platform for information on telemedicine and telehealth." And yet most of us probably know someone who had to travel to (fill in the blank) in order to get the kind of care that health care experts thought was needed.

Maybe some of your encounters with health care providers would incline you to say "we need more personalized care." Well, all I can say to that is "take a number and wait until I can address your concern."

And yet we have seen such phenomenal advances in medicine within the last one hundred years. All kinds of non-prescription drugs are available. All kinds of specialists are available. According to Project America (citing figures from U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary), in 2005 there were 5,756 hospitals in the United States -- though that is down from 6,965 hospitals in 1980. There are 131 accredited medical schools in the United States. Based on May 2003 figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. has more than 6 million chiropractors, slightly more than 97,000 dentists, about 112,000 family and general practitioners, and just a little over 173,000 radiologic technologists and technicians.

Whatever you like about our health care system or whatever you would like to fix in our health care system, it is clear that health care is a very important issue. Right now we in the U.S. are experiencing efforts to revise our health care system. If you would like to learn more about the issue of health care, you are welcome to attend a forum in the Forsyth Library at Fort Hays State University at 7 p.m. today.

Art Morin

1723 Marjorie Drive