One man's opinion here on the health care reform debate - or is it health insurance reform?

Whatever your conclusion, you must have been impressed with the rancor and inexplicable hostility in some of the recent town meeting debates.

The claims of dismantling Medicare to pay for reform, wild accusations of 'Nazi' end-of-life death panels (please, someone tell Sarah Palin to check the facts) deciding whether to pull the plug on an elderly serious ill patient and similar misinformation and disinformation seems only to blur the central issues.

Whether they are designed to do just that, and block any reform of what insurers and providers offer as health care currently is subject to debate.

The fact we have no single firm bill yet before congress also isn't helpful.

As a frequent user of the system, I can point to good and bad within our current framework of private insurance companies and health care providers - as many of you can.

Overall, it should be apparent to about anyone that this system is unsustainable, with costs rising too quickly, care rationed or denied for other than medical reasons and inefficient delivery of care.

A few personal glimpses:

-Follow-up tests on a serious condition delayed by a health care provider over insurance concerns (guess that means would they approved a high-level test follow-up within the same year)

-Follow-up physical rehab after surgery passed over; wrong prescription doses apparently from a simple clerical error

-The all-too-common scheduling mistakes, record errors and billing errors you've read a lot about.

The classic that stands out in my mind was a MRI billing that ran in excess of five figures. When I read the bill it seemed to be way out of whack in the amount and the usual discounts put in place for insurance and my portion of the bill.

Given that an MRI exam seemed overprice at that level in the first place, I used an online tool to check MRI prices across the country - my price was higher than an MRI done at a hospital in Beverly Hills - a definite red flag.

When I called to check on the billing and explained my concerns about the overall cost and the seemingly nutty adjustments to the bill, the clerk first was adamant that the bill was the bill, and I could ask about payments, but not really question it.

Then, after a pause, she asked: "What was the date on your bill?"

Incredulous, I asked "What?

"What was the date on that bill?" she repeated.

I told her, and the response really floored me.

"Oh, just ignore that - all the bills sent out on the date were all screwed up (apparently some computer billing batching error) - they'll send you a new one."

I had to wonder about all the people who got those screwed up bills and didn't ask, but just tried to pay them.

A core issue right now is the so-called public option, about which there is much disinformation and confusion.

From my understanding it would simply be an option for those uninsured, underinsured and fully insured to choose from among the myriad health plans out there.

Like Medicare, it could offer costs savings over for-profit insurance plans that are often criticized for emphasizing the profit over the care - take at look at those profit levels and the pay of top insurance CEOs for the cold, hard facts.

The option of a government-sponsored plan in addition to the for-profit company plans seems about as reasonable as you can get, along with reform on refusing care for pre-existing conditions and health decisions based on insurance tables instead of a solely medical basis.

Many feel the lawmakers are getting the squeaky wheel treatment from the most vocal opponents and ignoring that a lot of polls show solid majorities in favor of such reform.

Hopefully, the noise gets turned down, reasonable debate resumes and a plan is crafted and voted on in the near future.

How do you feel about the health care reform debate?
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