Death and Taxes

The United States has the somewhat dubious distinction of being the only industrialized nation with no form of universal health care. It's very odd. We rank #1 in the world in terms of spending (we spend the largest share of our GDP), yet we are ranked "37th in overall performance and 72nd by overall level of health". You know when people go around parading that "America is #1!!"? Rankings like this make me severely question such patriotic ramblings.

Most people understand that must be done. Medical expenses is a leading cause of bankruptcy. And despite paying so much money for health care, the country does not get particular good care. Though all this means is that "change" is necessary, while failing to provide a concrete basis for your catch word. As I have always said, it's better to vote for a policy, not an abstract noun.

I always laugh a little bit when right wing protesters get all bent out all of shape with these protests against health care reform. It's not that I have anything against dissent or voicing one's opinions. In fact, I warmly and heartily encourage those with opposition to speak their mind. However, I sometimes question where these opinions come from. Sarah Palin wrote about "death squads" on her Facebook and conservatives are rallying against the specter of "socialism". But reality can sometimes be very different.

You know, in other countries, there are actual socialists. By more global standards, the people working on health care reform in the White House are far right of being socialists. In countries like France and Italy, they have actual socialists. Obama isn't even very liberal. But the other point is that we already have socialized medicine. The goverment already has Medicare, Medicaid, health care for federal workers and low income children. It already covers about 27% of the population. Universal health care is just a matter of extending existing programs that already exist.

Many people are rightly concerned about the goverment reforms of healthcare. People who tend to agree with my political views, especially those towards health care, tend to caricature the opposition to reform as a bunch of crazy right wing nutjobs. Not me, I'm not one to be particuarly trusting of the goverment. I'd prefer a goverment that does not govern at all. And, "when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have". However, there is a 3rd player here besides the "people" and the "goverment", insurance industry.

The insurance industry makes a literal and metaphorical killing off of health care in the United States. Anyone who has tried to deal with getting health care benefits knows that insurance companies hold lots of sway in the creating and utilization of loopholes to deny benefits whenever possible. While this may sound heartless, this is the logical and necessary consequence of a capitalist system. An altruistic company is a contraction in terms, as such a company would inevitabitly fail in lieu of one with a more cutthrout mentality. The insurance industry loves the current system. They have a level of goverment welfare and nearly free reign to screw people out of their money.

In a system in which corporations wield dangerous power (literally the power of life and death) over consumers, the best (and perhaps only) guard against abuse is the goverment. We have seen this before. For example, we have anti-trust and anti-monopoly laws to keep companies like Microsoft and Standard Oil from abusing the market.

However, there is legitimate concern. In many ways, the goverment is but a paid arm of corporate interest. We find that the insurance industry has paid off many elected officials in order to get a more progressively watered down bill, a bill so weak it will either do nothing or inevitably fail. This is what has been seen in Congress so far. With no reform, we will be stuck with the status quo, a situation that benefit those selling private insurance.

Many alternatives exist from other countries, and perhaps we can adopt a variation of those. You know, swallow our pride and listen to other countries for once. However, politics are often made to seem more difficult than in actually is. It is how professors and writers of political theory can justify their careers. If you look at the actual text and background of health care in America, it is a confusing mishmash of different systems and funding and rules and requirements. I have difficultly making many judgements about the system, and I suspect it is made that way. It keeps the public view out of the laws and keeps us focused on those "crazy" people yelling outside the town hall meeting. No one has time to read the law's text, instead debators are forced to stick to predefined (and usually very biased) talking points. Perhaps we would be better served by removing the confusing parts and keeping something simple and easier to understand. Maybe something like this:

"The country does better when people are healthy. It shows our superiority without need for arms and bombs.

Everyone pays for health care as part of taxes. Everyone gets healthcare."