From what little I understand about the issue, what we have in right now is not really a true system. A system in the political sense means to me there are rules set by the government, and there is some governmental control. While there is an FDA and a number of complicated and specific laws in order to control health insurance, it doesn't seem too different than the way the government controls Wall Street. There are some rules to prevent one corporation taking over and to allow justice to prevail economically, but, as was the agenda of the Bush administration, the economy is rather laissez-faire.
That's how I view health insurance in America right now. The major health insurers have a huge say as to who or what gets insured, and they control coverage by how much people can pay. Companies provide health care for their employees to some extent, but this is barely enough to survive as healthily as possible. It is a travesty that millions of our citizens go uninsured and thus receive fewer benefits as their richer counterparts. It says in the Declaration of Independence that everyone deserves "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Life is an unalienable right, according to ol' Ben and Tommy.
That people are opposed to "socialistic" health care is appalling. Every citizen deserves an equal opportunity to the health benefits as the next citizen, regardless of race, class and gender. The current "system" that exists is denying these people of their rights, saying that they are not worth those health benefits, and in some cases, not worth living. If a person dies because he was uninsured while a person in the same circumstance is saved because he IS insured, because he can pay for it, is that not an inherent problem with the system? Whoever pays more lives longer, survival of the fittest? Are we animals, stuck in some Darwinian Twilight Zone where only the rich survive while the poor continue to die simply because they are poor?
Yeah, you say, that's just the way of things. To some extent, I agree. That's just life. It's unfair, but never has anyone preached to me the fairness of life. Never has anyone truly advocated "karma" in the Western sense of the word as a fair way of settling things. That's just life, that the weak don't survive.
But does it have to be?
I often oscillate between opinions as to whether we are animals or something better, and one of the arguments is empathy. Only humans are truly empathetic. Animal sympathy comes from an instinctual desire to insure survival. Human empathy revolves not only survival but happiness as well. We can want others to live happily, not only survive.
We can prevent poor people from dying because they are arguably trapped in a system that works against them, but as a people, Americans are largely against that. Reform means change. Most Americans aren't convinced we need the change, but we do. We need it to save potentially millions of people's lives because they can't afford to save themselves. And it's not like these people are far away, either. Sure African kids and Cambodian kids are dying and all that jazz, but the problem that exists is OUR people are dying. Moreover, we are LETTING them die.
That's why we need a health care reform, so that privatized insurance can stop pulling in billions of cash at the expense of the American people. I'm not saying that a public option, which is pretty much what Obama is going to establish, will be perfect, but I want to do something, to change something, that may be a step in the right direction, because if there is no reform, the standard of life in America will remain stagnant, not improving.
The public option will let people be covered by the government. In a sense, the government is paying for those who can't pay for themselves the health care. It's going to hurt the private insurers a lot. There's no denying it. They'll probably lose billions of dollars, but their lost equates to our health. A few people losing money so the majority, well actually, ALL the American people can live better is worth the change.
And this is where I'm torn. I'm planning to be a dentist. This change will mean the government will probably give me less money than private insurers would for my work. Health care reform will save millions of people, but in all likelihood, those in the medical field will be paid less.
So yeah, fuck health care reform.
