Now understand i mean no disrespect but i suspect this is an issue that needs to really be discussed a whole lot more!i got an email from a friend a few days ago wondering about an issue that is near and dear to the hearts of many folks here in the States. Those who have been and continue to go to the polls to vote in Primaries and will eventually be voting in the upcoming general elections are probably going to need to settle this issue once and for all... here is the gist of what my friend asked...
" The whole idea that the American health care is run by insurance companies seems so bizarre. They are there to make a profit... how could that possible be beneficial to the people? And what if you can't afford it, are you just out of luck? To hear that people have to mortgage their house to pay for health issues seems crazy to me...."
Here is my response....
You wrote that you can't imagine having to "... pay for surgery"
[Dude], you have got to be kidding me?
Do we pay for groceries (btw gotta' have them...)?
Do we pay for clothes (again, gotta' have them...)?
Do we pay for a place to live (hmmm, gotta have them too)?
Why or from where do we get the idea that health care should be underwritten or "free" (and trust me, there is never anything free especially within a capitalist economic system or even in a socialist system... look at the condition of the countries behind the Iron Curtain at the end of the Cold War... somebody is ALWAYS paying for whatever commodities or goods are up on the auction block)?
Now, should it cost exorbitant amounts of money to have surgery? I don't think it should, but we usually don't concern ourselves too much for paying top dollar for great food, clothes or a house... right?!? But for some still unexplained reason we believe that health care should be underwritten in a way these other things aren't.... I just want to know WHY?
And one other thing to consider is this...isn't one of the main points of capitalism to turn a profit? I am not sure that govt should be in the business of deciding which businesses are going to be turning a profit and which ones won't be or shouldn't be!
No matter what that businesses goods are... perhaps the reasons for cost prohibitive health care are a bit more complex than the bad ole' insurance companies being heartless and only concerned about keeping cost down by denying Aunt Millie her heart transplant and more about the intense govt. regulation and badly needed torte reform here in our nation etc, etc.
Anyway, I am probably way out of my league on this subject...
5 comments:
In my opinion, your sentiment is not without merit (as I often tire of hearing people make "their" problems "mine", thus I need to "help-out"). However, (and there is always a "however") the idea that some of our less fortunate people (particularly children, working poor, single- parents-barely-holding-it-together, etc.) being left uninsured and/or having inadequate insurance leaves me with more than a bit of discomfort (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/163856/child_dies_for_lack_of_dental_care.html).
Regardless of the circumstances a child is born into, if he or she needs medically necessary surgery or signatificlly life-improving surgery, I think as a society we have a responsibility/obligation to see that the child receives the help they need. Seems like money should be a secondary issue in the analysis - the thought is that we need to be somewhat of a society with compassion for one another regardless of whether we agree or disagree with each others choices about lifesytle, morals, etc.
Furthermore, to do anything else almost seems inconistent with the Jesus's teachings, no?
"And when he went ashore he saw a great throng; and he had compassion on them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a lonely place and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. Jesus said, They need not go away; you give them something to eat"
Matthew 14: 13-21
I think you have some real good points, However my mother doesn't have insurance and is in poor health, she also has a fix income of about 800.00 per month. I believe we should continue to pay for health insurance but also help the poor as christ has continued to help us in our time of need.
Someone always whines about paying for things like healthcare. Our society believes, at this time in history, we "...deserve a break today..." or we should "...have it our way..." or any one of a hundred other selfish responses. Selfishness is an innate and pervasive quality of the human condition. Why are we surprised someone wants healtcare for free?
John D. Rockefeller said, "every freedom implies a responsibility." Let me suggest we Americans love to stress the "freedoms" part but are loathe to remotely consider the "responsibility" part, particularly, personal responsibility.
As someone who works in healthcare I have learned there are 2 sides on this opinion. Those who have health insurance usually take the position that I shouldn't be responsible for someone else's, that is until theirs becomes too expensive, then they want the government to help. Those who don't obviously believe the government should help. In reality, if you look at the systems in other countries that have universal healthcare, they are not that bad and you wonder why America can't do it. The reason we can't is the lobbyists. Healthcare is not big business, it is huge business, and it is huge business because of the greed associated with it. Not many in the healthcare industry are concerned about helping others, there is only concern about the bottom line. While this isn't universally true, it is generally true.
Thurgood Marshall said that no one ever pulled themselves up by their boot straps, someone, a friend, a family member, an ivy league crony at some point helped them by pulling their boot straps for them. When we can admit this, we can admit that at times other people need us to help them pull up their boot straps. Isn't this what Jesus would require of us. I honestly wouldn't expect the government to want to help, but I would certainly expect those in the Church to have a different perspective on this.
Anyone else have any war stories from the American Health Care Beuracracy?
Is Health Care the same/better/worse where you live?
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