Universal Health Care: Why? (updated with some hard numbers )
I have a lot of things boiling in my head that never make it out on to this blog: Why? Because sometimes I haven’t got a goddamn clue how to distill the incomplete murky half thoughts half emotions that are there for a darn good reason, but have never foccussed. Never crystallized completely.
I was directed by bridgett, who reads here, to a great blog entry that truly brings the debate on Universal Health Care to the next level.
I humbly request….no actually, I want to virtually *demand,* by rolling into the streets and dragging every sloppy thinker that jabbers on about “moral hazard” and why this country simply *must* have privately funded health insurance that *every single politician who ever opposed universal health care read that post.*
I’m not going to say we need universal health care so that “more” can be covered.
Every human being is someone special to somebody.
If we had single payor coverage that had no “age limit” (either too old or too young to recieve care…)
We wouldn’t have to kill as many people.
It’s not about millions of faceless persons who don’t live in your neighborhood and will never make enough money to buy your *sort* of car or clothing.
It’s about that one person that you love most.
*When* those in DC sign funding cuts, or don’t expand services that are vitally necessary for people to keep on*living.* Just stop a minute. Stop. And realize you are risking the health and *lives* of someone’s spouse, best friend, child, sibling.
People *die* without care.
And those who have the power to make change wag their heads about “terrible tragedy.”
Just Shut Up a minute. And look straight into the face of that person, whomever they might be that you love best.
When you resist single payor health care, you are killing someone who is *just like* that person you love.
They are like the person you love because they also have someone whose face lights up when they see their email, hear their call, or visit with them. *People.*
The patients abandoned in Los Angeles.
The countless disenrollees from Tennesee’s “TennCare,” system who had no choice but to stop getting care…some died before the “photo op” of a new budget year allowed some to re-enroll.
The children and adults legally put to death under Texas “futile care” law.
The person with mental ilness who literally dies of despair because try as they might, even after decades…visions of past abusers, that day that they got beat up, or the day someone held a knife to their throat rise up and make them wish to die themselves and if there is no coverage for medicine or therapy, well then too bad.
The seemingly healthy uninsured persons who drop dead from symptomless killers like high blood pressure because if they *don’t have insurance* they put off going to the doctor.
The many who die in institutions because well, shit, it’s easier to stack them up and wait for them to expire, than manage the cheaper but more difficult to execute care in the home.
Just quit whining about the cost. Because you would make sure that the person you love best got care when they needed it…
You shouldn’t get to ‘play God’ with the life or health of someone elses beloved friend or relative…
*But that’s what you do* everytime you cut Medicare or Medicaid and shrug off the uninsured.
People with medical needs don’t *stop being people* when they *start to cost more to keep alive.*
And, (how’s this for a kicker) You create more medical financial or mental health need *by denying that Universal Health Care is a right.*
When a family loses someone because they died for lack of treatment, *the entire family,* who might have been healthy as horses before they lost their loved one…
Could be driven into bankruptcy and lose a home because of the costs.
Could have grieving/emotional/mental and physical health issues *of their own* for years because of the *way* the person died, and under what circumstances.
And thus, *those that are left* have more stress and *their* own medical costs rise…
Deferring appropriate care can be fatal, and will almost always lead to addtional expense multiplying by the friends and family left behind….
Does single payor have it’s downside? Yes.
But *what we have* is profit driven, neglectful, inadequate and often absent altogether. This isn’t about the dreaded ‘rationed’ care, troubles of some system *we don’t have yet.*
It’s about what is well and truly fubared, *in the present system.*
Life. Liberty The Pursuit of Happiness.
(a slightly dumbed down version crossposted to Daily Kos
)
Oh, and PS. It saves money. Here are some hard numbers, for those not convinced by death.
And this comment was just kickass, so I had to drag it back here…
bridgett said,
April 6, 2007 at 7:38 PM
I am really moved by his writing. And by yours.
Good one.
Bobby said,
April 7, 2007 at 8:02 PM
Yes, that’s definitely correct. It’s pretty sad that people say, “I don’t care” if they aren’t affected. And then some of the leftists think “well, you’re better off dead than disabled” while the right is off cutting stuff that can be life-saving.
I hate politicians. I want Harriet McBryde Johnson to run for President. I’d vote for her, although I’m for assisted suicide to an extent.
efricha said,
April 8, 2007 at 10:38 AM
As usual, I respectfully disagree, but perhaps not the way you think I will. Feel free to delete this if you want…
I agree that the current system is untenable and needs to be changed for many moral and economic reasons.
I disagree with the idea that single-payer will work here.
My mom probably had the best health care possible — a government program with lots of options. But some of those options didn’t make sense for her. For example, she could have gotten the nursing care she needed late in life, if she gave up the medicine that kept her alive for more than a week.
She chose the meds over the nursing care. I would have too..
The point is that she didn’t have an option other than the program she had from the government, and it was probably the best health care plan available anywhere. I’m really glad she had it.
But it wasn’t enough.
Any single-payer plan is going to have “corner cases” that aren’t covered. If you don’t have an option to go elsewhere, either with your own money, or to a different provider, I’m afraid you will get screwed.
I looked at the hard numbers you referenced above and the studies don’t include much detail on how the models work. They give the “50,000 foot view.” I’d love to see more detail, but I want to see it from a site that isn’t so obviously an advocate of single-payer.
As someone who is without health coverage of any kind now — and desparately needs it — I certainly want to see the wasteful, unethical, greedy system that exists be done away with. But wherever we go in the future — if “the plan” doesn’t offer it, for some unknown reason, I want to have the option of going somewhere else for my treatment.
This is not acceptable, and it is not uncommon. We need to learn from others’ mistakes.
I think a starting point is to decouple health care from employment. Your program should be portable, tax free and you can take it with you when you go.
The next point would be to allow you to join plans available from any vendor at any time, and limit or eliminate the penalties for preexisting conditions
The third point would be to treat health care like a utility — I believe the so-called “managed competition” plan would do this, but other than the buzzword, I don’t know the existing proposals. The health care utility would be absolutely required to provide a base level of services (comparable to what my mom had or better) and allowed to offer options, and if they change their pricing, like any utility, they have to go through government approval to do so. Hospitals and caregivers would be decoupled from the health care utility. No lists.
I guess in summary, I feel that Universal Health Care is a necessity but single payer isn’t the answer. I advocate caution in going that direction.
Take care.
imfunny2 said,
April 8, 2007 at 11:44 AM
That…is a reasonable way to disagree…and I’m cool with it.
I’m glad to see we actually agree on severing the ties between one’s health insurance and one’s employer….I think that would have an unexpected positive.
People would have more chance of actually working at something they like rather than, “well I have kids with medical needs and so I have to stay at this job that I loathe.’
If my experience with this sort of product alone (not having this beef about other tangible commodities like cars for example) told me that market forces would be a positive, that competition would produce a better product, then I’d sit and watch the private companies work at making a better carrier.
I just haven’t taken those particular ideas away from my interaction with private coverages. That’s where we will continue to disagree.
And that’s ok.
Happy Easter.
spottedele said,
April 9, 2007 at 10:29 AM
“People with medical needs don’t *stop being people* when they *start to cost more to keep alive.*”
What enrages me is how many people would disagree with you on that. I’m tempted to go read the comments at Kos, but I don’t have a strong enough stomach today. Maybe tomorrow.
Jan said,
April 11, 2007 at 8:33 AM
I work in group homes for mentally and physically disabled adults and children. Often the “proper channels” are slow. While the group home residents wait for proper and prompt treatment, physical and mental conditions deteriorate which eventual increase costs.I see the relationship, why can’t the medical providers? I would love to see this remedied.
imfunny2 said,
April 11, 2007 at 6:02 PM
The thing that makes me the saddest is that both sides “privatize it and offer something to everybody” and “single payor” will be dropped by the politicians at some point in the 2008 race because it is not a sexy issue…and so…the present system will lumber on until it really breaks…
Joe said,
July 30, 2007 at 7:17 PM
I really like this.
Good job.
One thing I would love to point out is exactly how fucked our health care system is. Most people think that most uninsured people are “lazy and jobless”. However, out of the 55% of the population of the US who works full time, 46% are uninsured( Overview of the Uninsured in the United States: An analysis of the 2005 Current Population Survey U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation ). The reason why the U.S. has a failing health care system is due to our economy. The largest contributer to health care was employer based sponsors. However, the labor force went from largely factory and labor oriented with benefits to the service industry with little or no benefits. This is due most likely to factories moving over-seas and outsourcing jobs to people in other countries to pay them less with no benefits(my cousin works at (American owned Kodak factory in Mexico and gets payed nine dollars a day).
The failing economy, fueled by greedy money grubbing profiteers, produced a failing health care system. Look at the statistics. The health industry spends more on soothing the pain than preventing the disease. They make more money that way.
I am an advocate for universal single payer health care. In order for it to be more affordable, we must make budget cuts. No more tax cuts for the wealthy and large businesses and corporations. Second, decrease military spending(after a much needed change in foreign policy away from imperialism). In addition, cut off financial/military aid to countries who abuse human rights(Israel, we used to fund South African apartheid government). Cut those nations off from our tax dollars. I know I don’t wanna pay for a bulldozer that will crush children in their homes. Take the money and put it towards universal healthcare. It’s possible, we just can’t let the politicians get lazy about it. None of them made bold moves(except for Clinton who got shot down).