When Scott Brown was elected to the U.S. Senate several weeks ago, the sigh of relief heard around the country was almost audible. It is amazing how fast something as important as health care reform became so frightening to so many.

Now you can feel the steam going out of the process. Many believe we will be left with status quo, just like we were when there was an attempt to reform social security a few years back. This would be unfortunate.

Misguided though both the Senate and House versions of health care reform were, there is a pressing need for substantial change.

The big problem with what is now on the table is that it has been foisted upon us by just one party. And it has been foisted on the members of that party by some of  their most radical elements. It missed the boat on reforming health care and resulted primarily in just spending more on the present failed system.

Perhaps now that the issue can no longer be forced, calmer heads will prevail and ideas that truly address the main problems will be discussed. This of course will take both sides and I only hope that

the Republican members of Congress will be up to the task of being constructive. There are things more important than just winning the next election.

Over the past year we have all been inundated with ideas, claims and counter claims on both the problems and solutions facing health care. I have come to realize that there are a few key elements that must be realized if we are to both control costs and provide better health care in this country.

First and foremost, everyone needs to participate. This means that like car insurance, if you want to drive, you have to have insurance. Many of the so called “uninsured” are uninsured not because

they can’t get or afford health insurance, but rather because they are young and realize that the cost/benefit ratio is far too high. Why spend thousands of dollars a year when you are likely to have only

hundreds of dollars in expenses? The reason is because this broadens the pool and makes insurance more affordable for everyone. It also provides for that sudden unexpected illness that we think will

never happen to us.

Second, we need to modernize our medical information systems. In his book, The Healing of America, T.R. Reid examines health care systems from around the world and discusses at length the advances that have been made in France and Germany in particular by issuing smart cards to everyone. With these cards, all the paperwork and the people who process the huge volumes of documents that our system requires are eliminated. The savings in overhead for the insurance industry as well as the doctors and hospitals is huge.

Third, we need a lot more doctors, and doctors who are not saddled with hundreds of thousands of dollars in education debt. Ours is the only country where this happens, and the result is fewer doctors who can charge more because there are fewer of them. When you add to this that expanded coverage is going to result in expanded demand, unless we have many, many more doctors, we can expect prices to skyrocket. This is an area where a relatively minor government investment can make a big difference.

Fourth, doctors in other countries pay a small fraction of the malpractice premiums that U.S. doctors pay. The cost of this insurance is a huge expense for doctors. Perhaps this is something that can be nationalized. For those who want a single-payer system, this is the place to do it. Let the government pay the outrageous malpractice claims that are often filed.

But the real solution to health care is staring us in the mirror. Just look sideways. Until we lose weight and start taking care of ourselves, all these other things are band aids.