Health Care Reform: What Are You Doing?

One thing I do is patronize doctors who are working outside our present system, and promote them to everyone I know.

That's a good one. I also use a doctor who doesn't take insurance.

I admire your activism! You have read and done more about this topic than I have, for certain. My mother died a decade ago, partly because of mistaken medical treatments, and the entire process was ghastly. Since then I've been lucky enough to be healthy, but have watched friends struggle with severe health issues, chain themselves to jobs just for the health insurance benefits, and go bankrupt due to medical costs.

I'm wondering what you think of the cover story in the September issue of _The Atlantic_, "How American Health Care Killed My Father." It's actually not directly about his experience of watching his father die a preventable death in a hospital, but rather an analysis of what the system is, how it got this way, and what to do about it.

I've admired your energy and your advocacy on this subject.

I have been reluctant to tackle it myself because my time and energy is limited. Also I have some serious moral concerns.

I work hard for a living. I have OK healthcare through my employer. I don't have kids, nor do I plan on having kids.

On what moral basis can you (or anyone else) justify taking money out of my pocket to pay for the health care of other persons?

This is a genuine question and I feel that it is at the cruz of the health care debate.

One true but pedantic answer that the government IS ALREADY taking lots of money away from me for the health care of others is not helpful. Assume for the sake of argument that I already resent this legalized theft . . . what I am looking for is a moral justification.

Also note it is different if you require me by law to buy health care insurance (as I am required to buy car insurance), or for that matter to pass a law requiring all employers to provide health care, as was done in San Francisco. This is a reasonable exercise of the police power.

However, the power to tax is the power to destroy, and the money that the tax system takes away from me now is money that I cannot use to buy my own health care and sustenance in my old age.

Selfish? Yes, absolutely. I have zero confidence that any government health care program (or Social Security) will ever do anything for me -- so why should I do anything for it?

In some ways I feel guilty because I am not doing more for health care reform, but because of my deterorating health over the last few years, I simply do not have much energy to spare on a lot of things.

Today, though, I did run across this online Newsweek article that points out the top 5 lies and half-truths promoted by those who have more to gain than a healthy population.

Mostly I've been doing small person-to-person activism, including -- red-letter day -- convincing my brother that the proposed plan is not evil incarnate.

So, for example, tonight at the fitness center CNN was interviewing someone who said, "The question is, do you want to be in charge of your healthcare, with your doctor as a trusted advisor, or do you want the government to decide how you can be treated?" I looked at the woman next to me and said, "So how is that different from an insurance company telling your doctor how you can be treated?"

She said, "You know, that's a good question."

Also, I'm a union member, and my union, Communications Workers of America, is fighting for healthcare reform and the Employee Free Choice Act.

Fair play to you for taking a stand against the ridiculous hate-mongering going on. And in a sensible way.

Eh, I can't say I've done much, save being a happy, healthy Canadian. Ya know, one of those guys from 'Northern Canuckistan' with the 'socialist' health care system.

I never realized that something that's been a reasonably successful part of the Canadian lifestyle for a number of decades poses such an amazing threat to the American way of life that to combat it requires belligerent shouting, comparisons to communism and nazism, and even threats of physical violence and assassination. *goggles in wonder*

This. Only, y'know, smaller, and with less potential financial influence over multinational pharmaceutical companies.

It's all also very interesting to note to members of this supposedly "Christian" nation who are so obsessed with wealth, that Jesus was quoted saying, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:25, NIV)

To the "Why should I pay for others" argument, I add this to the discussion:

We are already paying for others. Those without health insurance skip health care until it is an emergency, when they rush to the emergency room. There they are treated, by law. Someone pays for that treatment. Some of it comes out of taxes. Some of it comes out of the pockets of those without health insurance who (can) pay full price. Some of it comes out of the generally spiraling costs of health care. Money goes to treatment rather than prevention, since there's not enough to go around, and thus treatment is more complicated - read: more expensive. As costs go up, insurance covers less, more people use emergency rooms inappropriately, ...

TAANSTAFL - There ain't no such thing as a free lunch. Unless you live in a closed system, where everything you use and consume is done by your own effort, then you are affected by the welfare of others around you. You have benefited from someone paying part of your way; others have benefited from your paying part of their way. We really are in this all together -- it's the whole reason we form societies in the first place; to do that which we cannot do alone.

I do not believe anyone is suggesting that the rich should pay all expenses for the poor. Rather, I think we (since I support the proposal) are saying that everyone should have a base level of health care as a civil right. Or, to put it another way, as a benefit of submitting to the social contract. The provider for that base level has to be a party with no axe to grind, a party that will truly treat all equally. That is the public option. Since it will not cover everything, there is still much room for a competitive market to fill the gaps. Medicare gap coverage, for example, is a booming business for insurance companies.

Our economy depends on a healthy, cooperative work force. That's why we all benefit when everyone has a base level of health care. Reasonable people may differ on what "reasonable level" means. But we won't even get to that debate at the rate we're going right now.

What am I doing? Educating myself and spreading my thoughts on the subject, like a responsible citizen. I also voted for those who agree with me.