From the "There ought to be a law against that" category, I bring you the most crying need of all. I might just catch you saying, "Duh, of course," when you hear it.
It's the law that ought to be, that isn't. The one that could save millions of individuals thousands of dollars. The law that -- just maybe -- could save America's medical system.
Yes, an amazing amount of good could be done with one single stroke of a pen enacting this new law. It's a simple law, and one you'd think would already be on the books, but isn't.
Drum roll, please.
There should be a law that you cannot charge vastly beyond value for a product, especially when the customer has no choice but to buy that product from you.
Such a law might do as much as anything to reduce the price of medical care in the United States. A single aspirin for $20? It clearly is wrong to charge so much. Why, then, do we not outlaw it? Why do we let hospitals get away with this? If we can see something is wrong, and that people are getting hurt because they are being wronged, haven't we forever made such things against the law? You can't rob and you can't steal, because it is against the law. This new law would fit right into that category.
The question is, why don't we already have such a statute on our books? Some would argue, it is because we should not restrain the free market system. That doesn't wash with me. It is the kind of argument I can see coming from a corporate lobbyist, not from someone who simply demands fairness. Every lobbyist needs an argument, and that would be his.
Let's do what's right for the people, not what is best for corporations. This law makes sense. It protects the people. It makes it so that a wrong that is happening is henceforth a crime. And best of all, it stands a real chance of significantly lowering our medical bills. It isn't the only thing that needs to be done, but, all by lonesome, it well might make a significant dent in how much we pay when we visit the hospital.
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