Barack Obama is President. The Supreme Court ruled today that race should not be a factor in making promotion decisions. There are more and more inter-racial couples and children of one culture being raised by parents of another culture.

It is time to grow up and stop the blaming. Virtually everyone that came to this country came through hardship as a minority. It is silly to continue to try to outdo stories of who had it worse.

So let's get together and stop playing that game.

No more will I put my race on surveys, applications, or even the census. I will leave these questions blank. These statistics are used to divide us, not to unite us.

I can be proud of the heritage of my forefathers when the time is right. I will honestly fill out medical information where the knowledge of my specific genetics is important.

But as far as the government and businesses go, for me and my family, my race is simply Human.

The failure of the medical community today to provide healthcare at a reasonable price to all is because it is NOT a free market enterprise. There is too much government involvement already.

Doctors don't publish their prices. Insurance companies don't publish price lists of what they cover. Insurance companies have unpublished "fair and reasonable" prices which go into a formula to calculate what they will pay for a given procedure. Doctors may charge $70 for an office visit from an individual, but contractually must only charge the insurance company $25 and the patient has a $25 copay. Another doctor may charge $60 for the same visit, but with the same insurance company he would also receive $25/$25, even if he is a lousy doctor.  Since there is virtually no way that someone is able to compare prices from doctor to doctor, or for doctors to advertise, the free market is gone.

In addition, doctors must protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits by doing unnecessary tests and procedures. And HIPAA (the Highly Insidious Paperwork Augmentation Act) adds significantly to the costs of doing business. Laws are stacked against patients and doctors in favor of trial lawyers and drug companies and perhaps, paper manufacturers.

American doctors are trained in the pill-pushing tradition. Few have training in allergies, even fewer in nutrition. They are schmoozed daily by sales reps who promise pills and tests that will solve their patient's problems. Patients have been conditioned to demand a pill for everything. But the cheapest, most effective ways for patients to get better are often the best.

When I was unable to move my arm, a doctor diagnosed arthritis and put me on high doses of painkiller "for the rest of my life". Another doctor  told me to grit my teeth through the pain and do big arm circles to loosen the joint. I was permanently cured in two days. There is no place that I can "report" the bad treatment or the good treatment, other than a few, disjointed, doctor review websites.

There are many alternative treatments that are effective that can't make it past the AMA or pharmaceutical lobbies in America. St John's Wort, the primary drug (herb actually) used to treat depression in Europe, is not given by doctors in America, despite its absence of side effects. Glucosamine is a miracle cure for many arthritis sufferers, but not often mentioned because drug manufacturers don't sell it. The German cure for cancer, used sucessfully by Ronald Reagan, is not permitted in America because it doesn't use drugs.

When I got sick in Belgium, I went to the doctor, he took me into a room with a bed in one corner and a desk in another, figured out what was wrong, took me over to the desk, I handed him twenty euros, he handed me a receipt and I left. Here in America, there are significantly more hours spent on paperwork than on anything actually having to do with medicine or treatment. The proposed universal healthcare program in America would combine the worst of all cultures creating excessive paperwork and oversight that would submarine the entire industry.

The Solution:

• Require all doctors and insurance companies to publish all prices.
• Require health insurance companies to clearly state what they cover and how much. When they drop or reduce coverage on a procedure, they need to write all patients and clearly let them know about the changes.
• Don't allow insurance companies to get a better price on services.
• Have a common online website for patients to rate and comment on doctors.
• Malpractice lawsuits should end in the suspension of a doctor's license if he deserves it, not a lottery payoff for the patient and lawyer. There must be a cap on lawsuits.
• Get rid of HIPAA - if a patient is concerned about privacy, he should work it out with the doctor before his treatment.
• Quit giving free medical treatments to illegal aliens - if they need emergency care which they expect the government to pay for, the back door of the hospital should be a trip "home". 
• Give holistic doctors and health care more credence. Let insurance cover them.
• Clarify that babies born in America to illegal aliens do NOT become American citizens. Change the Constitution if necessary.

Many doctors are in it for the money. Most are doctors because they really want to help and cure people. Untie their hands and let them do what they need to without the burden of government intervention. A free market system would benefit all.

Raising four children on my husband's teacher's salary and managing the expenses on a day-to-day basis was tough, to be sure. Our children didn't get a shopping trip to the mall for new clothes each August. They knew they wore hand-me-downs, what was on sale or what was at Good Will. Meals were prepared from scratch from food bought at the off-price grocery store. We didn't drink sodas. We seldom went out to eat and the children knew when we did, it was ONE thing off the dollar menu, water to drink, and split the fries. Vacations were to relatives. No cable, of course, but we seldom watched television as it was.

My depression-raised mother taught me to hate waste. Throwing away leftovers is a sin. Even now mother, who is now comfortable financially in her own right, has gone dumpster-diving with us!

I made sure they learned important things: to cook, to sew, to clean, to work together, to play piano, to respect teachers even when the teachers are wrong, and to take responsibility for themselves. I taught them forgiveness, honesty and integrity. I taught them that they weren't "victims" and that designer clothes didn't make a person "better".

Sadly, my children couldn't qualify for scholarships based on need because we aren't in debt. So they are paying for college themselves, as my husband and I did. One is in the army, one has huge student loans, one is working hard during school and during breaks, and the last is the most frugal and had the first two years in the bank before she even went to college. 

They are now 19-25, and what do they say to me about the way they were raised? Did they feel it was unfair that we didn't keep up the Jones's? To the contrary, I have a great relationship with all of them, and they are happy, well-rounded individuals. They get along with each other and are financially stable. They are grateful to have learned the value of money.

I am surprised at the things they have thanked me for. Each one is appreciative that we taught them not to crave soft drinks and to enjoy water. They are grateful they know how to cook. One complained that she couldn't find enough vegetables on her self-paid trip to Italy! They think it is funny to watch their friends swoon over brand names, rock stars, and first run movies. They pay off credit every month.

But what makes me proudest is that they take a personal responsibility for their own needs. They blow me away with their zest for life and how they are going after it! Each has grasped and caught a brass ring. As I hear of their accomplishments, I wonder "where did I go right?" They are making a difference for the better in the world, and all without designer blue jeans.