Senate candidate Lowden proposes bartering chickens for health care

Two years ago, I was cycling through a small town on my way into some nearby mountains. As I approached an intersection, a car passed me, then abruptly turned right, blocking my path. I slammed into the side of the car and when I ricocheted onto the pavement, I fractured my T10 vertebra. Several days later, I went for an MRI to suss out the extent of the damage.

Fortunately, and oddly enough, my auto insurance covered all of my medical costs. I'm not sure how that works, but I was glad to have it. Nevertheless, the MRI procedure cost around $2,000. (This included about 30 seconds inside a regular MRI machine and, because I unexpectedly freaked out from being wedged into what amounted to a plastic toilet paper tube, the rest of the examination took place inside an "open MRI" unit next door.)

Yet in a health care system proposed by Nevada candidate for the U.S. Senate, Sue Lowden, I would have had the option of paying for the MRI with a barter. A trade. Literally, X number of chickens in exchange for the $2,000 procedure. Or X number of lawn-mowings for the open MRI.

She was absolutely serious. A barter system for health care.