There are several health care issues that are in the news and in the minds of many people these days. Perhaps because of the push for universal health care, misuses of the current health care system have come to light. The health care issues that plague Americans need to be addressed with intelligent debate and understanding.

One of the health care issues is the overuse of emergency rooms by the poor. It is not their faults. They are simply responding to a situation in which they have no other recourse. For example, a low-income family may have a child with a cut finger. If they had insurance, the parents would take the child to a doctor's office or an urgent care clinic to get the finger stitched up.

Since they have no such option, they take the much more costly route of going to the emergency room for the same service. This puts a strain on emergency rooms and costs taxpayers much more than if the poor families were given adequate medical coverage in the first place. Health care issues like this one are difficult to fathom when there are so many sources of cheaper medical care.

Other health care issues involve preventative medicine. Insurance companies do not all support the patient's right to preventative medical screening procedures and treatments. This also makes health care more expensive in the long run.

Many health care issues revolve around the older population. There are so many elderly people who are given little or no help with their prescription medications. Insurance companies make drug coverage available - at a price that is so high that most seniors cannot afford it. This does little to resolve these health care issues.

With all the health care issues that are in the public eye, there needs to be a better system of communication on these subjects. People can have an impact on their health care system if they know where to have their ideas on health care issues heard. It is time for the government and other organizations to give them a voice.