This issue being as near and dear to my heart as any, has everyone saying either two things: 1) The government has no right to choose whether a person lives or dies 2) the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. While I myself can most definitely tell you that I know which side is in the right on this issue, I won’t do so for at least a few paragraphs (read: sentences). An interesting debate concerning one section of the larger argument took place on the daily show with Jon Stewart which lasted so long that it was cut short when the cable broadcast aired officially (but was made available later online). Jon Stewart brought out a seemingly innocuous commentator on the issue named Betsey McHaughey, whose credentials range from that of politician to…well…not much else I believe. Jon Stewart blatantly mocks the shear naivete that perpetuates her argument which although relevant fails to make an impression as bold as the one that most health care conservatives are giving as testament. The page in question which keeps falling from her fingers like a spark of reason that she suddenly grasped for a moment but was taken away again by the wind….
Even my own mother who worked for many years as a both an LPN and an RN (licensed practitioner nurse and registered nurse) was by and large a very staunch conservative when it came to talking about health care reform. So much as bringing up an issue such as universal healthcare could really be dangerous without specific factual evidence to give in reference to any argument. Universal healthcare in a nation as large and diverse as the United States would be a mind-numbing experience even more so than the dysfunctional systems that are already in place. For the most part, and (excuse the ab.) AFAIK, the hospitals that are required to admit anyone regardless of their current coverage are in existence but the bill still usually comes later…in which case the hospital and its staff expect payment of the bill which may or may not get paid at all depending on the patient’s willingness to pay. Does the government have a program to subsidize lost payment at all? If not why not start doing so?
The needs of the many do indeed outweigh the needs of the few, but what the many don’t know is what that what they need and they want are not necessarily the same thing. The many do not need yearly reminders that they are overweight, they actually need those reminders bi-weekly if not every week. Obesity is the LEADING cause of death as well as many avoidable disorders and diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes. Unfortunately there are many diseases such as cancer and AIDS and although they are terrible afflictions, they are often highlighted because the number are high for how many are affected and the duration for which the sufferers are affected but again the argument must go back to the original statement: The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
To put in place a system which pays for and advocates the inclusion of community health reform and awareness is a step in the right direction. The new health care bill seems to have a great many pages that concern an overhaul in a system that essentially works for those who have paid a great deal into it (some without knowing the costs of paying into it). One positive thing that might come off having a healthcare system shake-up would be to eliminate the concept of employment benefits being a leverage option for most employers because of the nature of the decreasing amount of ailments that can be covered. The healthcare system is not as much a system in its current manifestation as it is a market through which people seem to derive some sort of return on investment in financial terms but in the physical sense this what is bankrupting the system from the getgo: The needs of the body outweigh the needs of the pocketbook. Give some time and thought to investing in community and employment programs which evaluate and reward good heatlth and then worry about whether we’re dignifying our elders. If we phase it correctly, we could usher in a new system and our future elders will have already lived a long and healthy life and will have had the good sense to have written up an end-of-life directive without shame or guilt.
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