I'm getting ready to launch a new business plan. Tell me what you think...

Instead of $12, I'm going to start charging $493 for each of my CDs. But wait...hold on...I will also, simultaneously, launch a "children's entertainment insurance program" that you can buy into for a low monthly premium that will help cover the increased cost of your kid's entertainment. Sound good? Sound familiar?

The health care situation is making me crazy and a little cranky. Increasing costs of our flimsy plan have threatened the livelihood of our otherwise thriving family-run business.

With the U.S. House of Representatives voting to repeal the health care overhaul, it’s troubling that those who oppose it don’t seem to have a better plan – if any plan at all.

I agree that the current law is not even close to adequate, but it’s a start. And it may very well need to be repealed, but then offer me something better. Please.

I, for one, would love the option to buy into a government-administered plan – either at the state of federal level. That way I could remain self-employed and avoid having to sell out and go to work for a corporation just for health insurance.

Call it whatever "ism" you want, but I’d be a healthier and less stressed-out citizen who wasn’t spending a quarter of my salary on pathetic coverage that gets us little, but fills the corporate troughs of Mega Life and Health Insurance Co. (Yes, that's the real name of our insurer. Classic!). If I paid twice as much in taxes to fund a comprehensive plan, I’d still be paying less than I do now.

Anyone who is unmotivated to drastically change or better regulate our current health care and insurance systems must have great health coverage (as do all federal legislators), or must be employed by the system, or heavily invested in the system, or are being paid-off by the system.

I don’t care what party you represent; fix the problem already! It’s a total bloody mess.

And for those who claim we have the best health care system in the world, I’ve got some sobering news. Our system is good and adequate for those who can access it, but it’s not even close to the best.

According to a 2000 World Health Organization (WHO) report that ranked national health insurance systems and used criteria including, but not limited to, life expectancy, infant mortality, and cost, the U.S. ranked #37, right behind Costa Rica.

As if I needed more reminders of the mess, I just received the bill for my recent out-patient back surgery (no overnight stay). Holy smokes! For what they charged I could send my girls to college for a couple of years.

The first invoice I got from the hospital was so sketchy I had to ask for a detailed bill. That's when I discovered several outrageous charges, including $28 for four over-the-counter sleep aids. I get a bottle of 100 of these tablets at the grocery story for $6 – that’s six cents a piece. That means that their charge of $7 per pill is about 116 times that of the retail cost.

Am I then to assume that all of the other medicine they fed me in that 12-hour stay was also jacked up in price more than 11,000 percent?! If so, then the $1,386 in pharmacy items for which I was charged cost them about $11.95.

If I ran my business like they do, I'd be charging $493 for one of my CDs, and about $23,000 per performance. I'd be laughed right out of business. Unless, of course, I set up that children's music insurance plan.

I know there are many factors that have created this perfect health care storm, but surely ridiculously-inflated costs are part of the problem. But, as consumers, what is our recourse?
    
I found charges for things I didn’t receive, and for which I was refunded. But I had to ask for a detailed report, find the discrepancies, and ask for reimbursement. Check your medical bills closely, folks!