26 Aug 2009 :: Oooo! Polytiks!
Recently, the can of worms known as universal healthcare was finally cracked open, and people were either hooked, or thought instead it was a bunch of maggots pulled from a dead corpse. The discussion has been rather inept, full of lies and has really shown some of the meat that makes us Americans. Unfortunately, it is not pretty.
The arguments have been trickling in, with thoughtful pieces, like the editorial by John Mackey, to the exposure of the LaRouche being the stupidest people in a stupid country. I happen to largely agree with John Mackey, but my hackles were raised when he points at the waiting lines for care in countries that provide healthcare, when he neglects to mention that if America does have shorter lines, it is because 48 million of us do not have healthcare.
Furthermore, John Mackey is under the impression that everyone will always have jobs in caring companies, like his own, so everyone will be able to qualify for coverage, which is like thinking that Natalie Portman might soon ring my doorbell and consent to be my wife; a nice thought, but not happening. He set off the discussion in poor form, quoting Margaret Thatcher saying, “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out
of other people’s money.”
Fantastic. The problem with the American Republic is that it does the same thing. In fact, Americans ran out of our own money a while back, but we pretend that we didn't, though at some point, China might help jog our memories. Still, government won't be as efficient as private businesses, so now sewer lines, new subdivisions, roads and our military can be controlled by privately owned conglomerates that do really well and never cause major national problems.
I have a friend, a teacher, who was diagnosed with Leukemia. She has battled it for a year, for the duration, she was unable to work. Recently, she caught a cold that put her in the hospital for thirty days and counting and because this means she will not be able to fulfill her duties as a teacher this year she lost her job, and eventually her insurance, but the bills will continue to stack up.France spends 11 percent of their national output on national healthcare. The US spends 17%. Americans spend more money on healthcare than their counterparts, yet in Americans are the ones that have their life saved, only to lose everything.
When people use the emergency room and are unable to pay, that cost goes to the US taxpayer. The costs of covering the poor and homeless is outstanding. It is certainly more compassionate to be able to give people with disabilities, or who are poor, the same chance at life that much of America takes for granted.
I do think that it is hard to trust politicians to not take advantage of the additional monies pumped into healthcare for some other purpose. I do think it will be hard to keep healthcare costs in check, in a country being wrecked by an obesity epidemic. I do think that there are dozens of first world countries with different univeral healthcare models, and the United States should be able to study the best implemented programs and incorporate them into a fiscally effective and expedient healthcare system.
Currently, I don't think there is much to lose.
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