Why we need health care reform...

1. Arguments over semantics -- was it a second opinion or changing of physicians?
2. Why are we limited to only 1 second opinion? (Assuming it wasn't a change to a new doctor.)
3. Why should a primary care physician's signature be required for everything? Especially when he's on vacation and can't be reached for two weeks and you've just received a prognosis of days left to live and the clinic won't start your treatment without the signature.
4. Why should family members spend their time dealing with insurance paperwork instead of with the terminally ill person?
5. Why do I get a half dozen bills from a single visit to a medical clinic? Why can't you send me a single bill itemizing everything in plain English? Why is it that I pay the bill, and then continue to get bills saying my account is past due for the next 3 months?
6. Why do you limit me to only a single month's prescription at a time? What if I'm going to be out of town for an extended period of time? It's not like I'm going to be selling my heartburn medication to strangers on the street. I need it.
7. Why can't you help me find a physician that covers the area of expertise I need? And when I do find one, why do you fight my using that physician?

These are just some observations I've made lately based on my own experiences and those around me that are dealing with severely ill family members. After experiencing medical care in Korea, where I receive one bill at the end of my visit, that I pay then and there, with instantaneous digital communication between the doctor and the nurses and technicians, I know there are better ways of managing the business of medical care. Why is it so difficult for the U.S. to move forward with streamlining the medical business? We can do so many other things, and yet we can't seem to solve this problem.