By Paul Jacob
It's cheap and only takes a minute.
In the olden days, it wasn't that hard to get some minor ailment or injury taken care of. People paid for that kind of thing the way they paid for groceries.
Maybe they still can. Some people believe that even the simpler kinds of medical treatment require years of specialized training to master. But it's just not so, as we're being reminded by the rise of so-called minute clinics that you can visit while picking up groceries.
These clinics are set up in stores like Target. They can treat only a limited range of ailments. But if you used to go to the emergency room and pay through the nose to get your nosebleed looked at right away - - isn't it better to pay just $25 to $75?
Another end run around modern bureaucracy is a form of insurance called Health Savings Accounts. With these accounts, you basically just ensure yourself against catastrophic illness, while agreeing to pay for your standard medical care. That means lower premiums. It also means you're more careful about your health care expenses than you would be if a third party always handled your bill.
Some people want the U.S. health care system to be more like Canada's socialist one. Meanwhile, sick Canadians drift down to the U.S. so they can get surgery before they keel over. With luck, American free-enterprisers will continue to give the American way of health care some much-needed booster shots, so those who run out of options elsewhere know they can always come here.
This is Common Sense. I'm Paul Jacob.
Common Sense is published by Americans for Limited Government. Their website can be visited at www.limitedgov.org.