if it covered things like lube jobs and tune ups and only had a $15 deductable? One problem with medical insurance is that a lot of people expect it to cover every possible medical expense with the exception of a small copayment. It would make much more sense for most people to have a basic hospitalization policy with perhaps a $500 deductible and pay their other expenses out of pocket. That's the idea behind Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs), and the advocates of a national single-payer system are completely opposed to anything that might work. MSAs are available for some people today.

My wife is the nurse manager for an out patient surgery center. What to know a little secret? Many, perhaps most, doctors will gladly accept a lower price for office visits when a patient offers to pay cash. Doctors have to employ people whose full time job is to fight with the insurance companies for payments. Many would gladly prefer to take $40 today than $65 a couple months from now, especially when they had to pay their employees salaries to fight for the money.

I saw a news program a couple months ago about some doctors who've decided to no longer accept any medical insurance at all. The end result, they believe, is better health care because they don't have some insurance employee arguing with them about what type of treatment to give to patients. Some of these doctors have even resumed making house calls.

Medical insurance, particularily as part of an employment compensation package, actually dates back to WWII. Many companies had to fight to get the employees they needed to handle the war contracts. This was no trivial issue when you consider that some 16 million men (and some women) were in the military out of a population of perhaps 120 million. The federal government had implemented salary caps, so many big companies started offering medical coverage as a means to attract employees.