Four grand.

That's how much it cost me to get back surgery — for mydachshund, Keaton.

No, I'm not nuts. Both I and my living room rug are fully awarethat Keaton is a dog, and I'm not the kind of person who buys himholiday-themed doggie outfits, or any outfits, for thatmatter. But when an animal that's part of your family isdragging his hindquarters and unable to walk, what would you do? Ifhe was elderly, I might have had him put to sleep, but there'splenty of life in the old guy yet.

Pet insurance, you say? Nope. Doxies are notorious for backproblems and to to top it off, Keaton is a rescue dog, sowe have no idea exactly how old he is or who his parents were.Pet insurance wasn't an option.

Animals today can get better medical treatment than peoplein Third World countries. The clinic that did Keaton'ssurgery has 9 vets on staff, and specialtieslike dermatology and opthamology. They even offer acupuncture,chiropractic, herbology and water and treadmill exercises for dogswith arthritis and other conditions.

If all of this seems off topic, it might be, except for arecently released Harvard study indicating that medical bills playa role in 62 percent of bankruptcies

(http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/la-fi-medical-bankruptcy4-2009jun04,0,4495714.story).

The really scary thing is that 78 percent of those people whofiled bankruptcy had health insurance, which obviously doesn'tcover everything.

Part of what makes modern medicine so wonderful (and soexpensive) is the cost of diagnosis and preventativetreatment. A big chunk of Keaton's hospital bill came from the costof the spinal MRI, which determined exactly where the vetwould operate.

The availability of doggie MRIs is just one indication ofhow far medical science has advanced. My mother died of coloncancer in 1988. Today, an unpleasant but routine procedureallows doctors to remove precancerous cells before they turn intoanything worse. If this screening had been available 20 years ago,my mother might have lived to see her grandchildren.

A November 2008 study by the BrookingsInstitution weighs the problem of how trying to squeezecosts out of the health care system could result in a decrease inmedical innovation. Mortality rates for cardiovascular disease havedecreased 43 percent between 1950 and 2005, a direct reflection ofmedical innovations. Who wants to make the call to cut those costs?Not me.

http://www.brookings.edu/events/2008/~/media/Files/events/2008/1117_realhealthcare/1117_strategicreview.pdf

A lot of people in our industry are concernedabout health care reform. I'm no fan of national healthsystems, which haven't seemed to have worked very well inother industrialized countries. On the other hand, afterexperiencing how expensive it can be to take care of asick dog, I'd hate to be in a similar uninsured position if thesick person was myself or one of my kids.

Sorry, no answers here to what we should do about health care.I'm just really glad I'm not Max Baucus.