Hello, Dr. Keith Smith with you here on behalf of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, thank you for joining me.

It appears that the folks in Washington D.C. have discovered that the health care industry is complicated. Well, you and I both know that it is complicated because they have made it complicated and the only way to uncomplicate it is for them to reduce, if not eliminate, their presence in this industry altogether.

Since they cannot find a way to extract themselves in a big way, I would like to give them a small suggestion, a place to start. A friend of mine who just turned 65 reminded me recently that if she doesn’t go on Medicare, she will be punished with lower social security payments than she would otherwise be due. Yes, you heard that right, refusing to participate in a bankrupt federal entitlement program, results in a punishment from the federal government which makes no sense at all, unless you believe like I do that the federal government’s intrusion into the health care industry is based primarily on control.

Here’s a small suggestion: why doesn’t Congress stop that practice? How many other little and easy, one-line legislative changes could be made that would simplify what everyone in D.C. seems to have just realized that they’ve made so complicated?

Thank you for joining me, we’ll see you next time.