Our Health is for Sale: Healthcare in the USA

The Right

Rich. Poor. Young. Old. We are all human beings. And, as living human beings, we all have a need for essential health care. High quality health care. Regardless of our socio-economic status. Regardless of the color of our skin. Regardless of where we live. Regardless of where we and our ancestors might have hailed from.

A sick nation is a weak nation. A nation that does not care for itself is a nation that is destined for the garbage heap of human civilization.

The poor will say that health care is a right. The rich will call that a Communist idea.

The Cost

The only real question is how to pay for it. That is, after all, the eternal question. Right?

The poor will tell you that it should be paid out of taxes, in proportion to one's income. That the burdens of the poor are already too great. That poor health will keep one in poverty just as surely as chains around the ankles. That no one should have to choose between food and medicine. Between paying their rent and paying a doctor for their child's surgery.

The rich will tell you that every person should pay for their own health care. That maintaining good health is each person's responsibility. That caring for oneself is the first step toward good health. And if you get sick, it is probably because of something you didn't do that you should have done. Or it is because you did something that you shouldn't have done. Like eating too much. Or smoking. Or drinking. Or not eating your vegetables. Or eating too many high calorie snacks. Or not exercising. Or not getting the flu shot. Or taking a job in a coal mine.

The rich believe in something called "choice". They say you should be able to "choose" your doctor. And they believe that if you pay more you should get more and that if you pay less then you should get less. It is only fair, right? So, choose wisely. And if you cannot afford the best doctors and medicines, that is not their fault. The fact that the poor have far fewer choices than the rich is simply an unavoidable consequence of basic economics. Like the laws of physics; it is what it is. Scarce resources after all need to be allocated. And if you want more choices--better choices--get a better paying job.

But let's be perfectly honest. The rich are selfish sons of bitches. They would prefer that the poor get sick and die. Good riddance as far as they are concerned. Allowing someone to starve to death is cruel. But allowing them to get sick and die, well...that's just fate.

And, if the poor get sick and die, it is their own fault. They should have taken better care of themselves. So, then again, perhaps it is not so much their fate as it is karma. Or at least, that is what those who can afford the best health care believe.

The Quality

The rich will also tell you that if everyone gets the same quality of health care, the quality of care will suck. And why is that, exactly? Could it because they will make sure that it sucks?

So, you are telling me we can have the best military in the world, but we cannot have the best health care? Really?

Making sure we have excellent health care is actually extremely easy. We just have to make sure that whoever manages it does a great job. And, if they don't, we need to fire them and replace them with someone who will do a better job at managing it.

After all, isn't that the way everything else in our world works? If someone isn't doing their job well, you fire them and replace them. And that is how you maintain quality. And if someone does a great job, you reward them, and that motivates them to keep doing a great job.

The Game

Let's also admit that health insurance does not protect patients. Health insurance protects doctors and other health care providers. It guarantees that they will get paid. And it guarantees that the public will pay for their services. And it relies upon the threat of financial catastrophe to motivate people to pay into the system.

It is a game. Think options trading on Wall Street.

But what kind of world do we live in where fear must be used to drive a person to do something. The threat of punishment should be used to discourage someone from doing something bad. The threat of punishment should not be used to force people to empty their pockets. Unless, of course, you are talking about a tax.

And, if it is a tax, why the game? Why not simply collect it as a tax?

Oh, yeah, I know why. Because it is a per capita tax that has been imposed on us by people we never elected. Awesome.

The Truth

The bitter pill no one wants to swallow is that the world we live in is a direct consequence of our political system. Fix our political system, and then we can have great health care. But, until then, it will suck.

For now, the powers that be call the shots. They decide what is and what isn't. And they are not about to "fix" the system they created and profit from.

So, live long and prosper or die young and poor. It really doesn't matter to anyone but you.

But look around and you may find there are a lot of "yous" out there.