Here's to Our Health

I've made no secret about where I stand on healthcare reform. I know we're not all in agreement on the issue and many people are scared to death about where the reforms (both those actually proposed and those described) will lead us, often speculating on the worst case extrapolation with little or no reference to past history or reality.

I don't feel that way, for two reasons. First, I think we're already IN the worst case situation with regards to healthcare barring ONLY continuing on the trends we're currently on. People, through no fault of their own, are not able to take even minimum preventive care because healthcare has become so expensive it's all but impossible to address without help - even nominal heathcare. And because insurance companies (and their huge profits) add to the cost (without actually providing a benefit), it makes us all poorer. It hurts people without insurance so that they can only get care when they are in a crisis (which is more expensive for all of us) because of the ridiculous cost. It hurts those of us with insurance because the cost of the profits for doctors, hospitals and insurance companies ALL come out of our pockets - as well as that emergency care. It hurts businesses as they spend more and more money on healthcare for their employees and it hurts employees because they can't make decisions that help their families without taking that healthcare as a consideration.

And, yet, for all this money and effort, all the high end hospitals and doctors, our care is not first rate. People die who don't have to. Decisions are made depending on the insurance, tests run or not run, doctors chosen based on who's with what company. Communication and error are frequent.

And, if that weren't bad enough, if facing a terminal or life-altering disease weren't stressful and miserable enough on its own, if the morass of insurance loopholes and disallowed reimbursements, correct codes and paperwork weren't enough, even doing everything right doesn't preclude financial ruin for an ugly diagnosis for dementia, a hard battle against cancer, or a baby born six weeks early. Financial ruin for not just the individual involved, but often a whole family - lost wages, lost savings, lost retirement, lost legacies.

It would be one thing if the system we have now worked worth a damn. It doesn't. I understand not wanting to make something so useless it sets us back, but doing nothing isn't working and it's what we've done to date.

The second reason is that the fear, that government will fail to do something the market can do better is bogus and has been disproved time and time again. Skip the hype and the hyperbole. Spare yourself the nonsense that making sure everyone has health care is putting us on the path to Nazi-ism. There are any number of things that were never got better until the government stepped in (at the impetus of the people): environmental regulation, financial regulation, minimum wage, civil rights. In all of these cases, the government had to step in where capitalism and society did not - for the good of all the people. And, even though I'll be the first to say government is often fumbling and irksome, they've done some damn fine things, too. Things I, for one, am happy to pay for with my taxes. I know a lot of good people doing the right thing in government. My grandfather was one. So was my father. They made it better for all of us with their quiet and unsung dedication.

What we're doing today isn't working. Seriously.

Until Medical Bills Do Us Part
5 Myths About Healthcare Around the World
Health Care Numbers Don't Add Up
Health Care Fit For Animals