As most everyone knows, there is a health care debate going on that has people up in arms on both sides. Some believe everyone should have health care at all cost, and some feel health care is needed, but with some restraint.

My opinion on the subject is as follows. I believe everyone should have access to good health care but not at an expense to others. There are people that are in desperate need for health care that are not getting it. I know that it is available at most emergency rooms, but what quality of care do they get?

I will give you a personal experience of a friend of mine that experienced it first hand and what the out come was. For personal reasons I will not divulge his real name, lets just call him George.

George, like me at one time, had a small auto repair business and could not afford to get insurance for himself and his family. He did not make a lot of money, but got by. So when his son and daughter started to college this complicated his problems. He wanted his children to do better than he had. So when he started to have a problem with his gallbladder, he more or less just ignored it. George decided that he wouldn't sacrifice his children's education and possibly go into bankruptcy, for a little thing like a gallbladder.

Like many people in his same situation, he went to the emergency room when the pain got too much to handle. While in the ER, he would be given an IV to stifle the infection and reduce the pain. He would then be sent home with a prescription for medication that sometimes he couldn't tolerate it, and at times could not afford to have it filled.

As time went on he got so bad that the hospital could no longer send him home, so they admitted him. They performed surgery on him, but his body was so weak from the poison of the gallbladder that he passed away a few days after the operation. What had started out as a pretty straight forward problem had developed into a major health crisis that had claimed the life of George.

Just like George there are up to 45,000 people that die here in the United States from minor health problems. They could have been spared the pain, suffering and eventual death from treatable problems if only they had some minimal health coverage that would have been more than just a trip for a band aid at the ER.

Like a lot of people, I watch Fox News and sometimes CNN and a little MSNBC. I have come to the conclusion there are 3 areas of their coverage, it will vary by percent from each network so I will just give the areas. 1) Some of the information they give is total fabrication and will fall along the political lines of the network. 2) The largest percent will bend the truth, again toward their political orientation. 3) The least percentage will actually be the truth.

I will not even begin to try to give an answer to this very complex issue. It goes far beyond medical services, it will need to involve insurance practices, tort reform and putting a stop to our lawsuit happy lawyers and patients. One thing is very obvious, we are being fed misinformation and downright lies by our politicians and special interest groups that they want to please. The media that represent the radical and extreme political side fuel the controversy more.

As Americans we deserve more from our government, corporate and network leaders. We all can agree to disagree, but it's time to put aside all the outright lies and distortions and come to some honest compromise on health care, and all the other issues that we face with our leaders in Washington that have been bickering back and forth.