A FEW THOUGHTS ON HEALTHCARE REFORM

By now it’s common knowledge that the latest wave of “protesters” to show up at town hall meetings with Congress members has been proven to be an industry-funded and pundit organized exploitation of the panic and hysteria felt by right wing extremists and other ignoramuses. These “protesters” are overwhelmingly white conservatives, and their consensus (whether their own or the expressed ones of their pundit masters) is predominantly that President Obama is trying to dismantle their America and/or that they want their country back. The “black affairs” correspondent on John Stewart said this last night in jest, but I mean it in all seriousness –That’s exactly what we’re trying to do: dismantle America as they know it.

To clarify, think about what America they’re really (under all the patriotic bullshit) talking about. These are the same people who opposed the Civil Rights Act, the same people who benefited unjustly from the labor of minorities and the poor until labor unions, the same people who opposed aid to the elderly so that they didn’t simply rot after a lifetime of work, and the same people who actually think that the fact that their current skyrocketing healthcare costs have nothing to do with the poor and uninsured resorting to default, ER care, or both.

Do we want to dismantle an America that persists in injustice? Where all are not in fact treated as equal regardless what the documents the founders created say? Where the rights and indeed the lives of the people are dictated by the ledgers of industry? Where the politics of an issue trumps the substance or utility of it? Do we want to dismantle that? You’re goddamned right we do. That’s called progress. That’s called becoming a “more perfect union”. And, newsflash to the idiots –as long as we draw breath that old America is never coming back.

To those who ask “why should I have to pay for healthcare for [the poor, the already sick, the undocumented, etc]?” I say –are you actually stupid enough to think you’re not paying for healthcare for them already?

Let me reintroduce you to one of my Eternal Truths: You can ignore, demean or hate the poor/sick/immigrants/elderly/minorities/disabled/children all you want but you’ll be paying for them somewhere along the line whether you want to or not. Somewhere along the arc of their lives we, that is society, will have to devote resources to their welfare. Somewhere in the time period between and including the medical services rendered post-conception to the disposing of their corpses, we’ll have to pay.

This rule applies to most issues, but follow me as it applies to healthcare: under the current system, people with no health insurance (and even some *with* it) are forced to wait until their health is in dire condition or an emergency arises before they seek treatment. This automatically means that they require MORE treatment and more complex treatment than they would have had if they’d sought treatment sooner. This in turn means that healthcare professionals have to devote more man-hours and more expensive treatments to those with an inability to pay. What do you think happens when the patients eventually default after being presented with the bill? Do the providers and insurance companies keep costs the same or do they spread the loss by raising prices/premiums? If you guessed the latter, give yourself a gold star.

Over time this results in higher premiums, rationing healthcare for those WITH insurance (based on lovely fictions like “preexisting conditions” or “cost/benefit ratio”), and even a greater risk of illness/infection to the healthy population as more people forgo treatment because they can’t afford it, and nonetheless continue to live and circulate among us.

Folks, this is that serious. It’s life or death, and not just for the uninsured, but for all of us.

Social-ism in it’s literal (non political) definition is the idea that benefits to society are valued over Capital –that is, the financial benefits to industry. The opposite is Capital-ism –the idea that money made from/for industry is valued over benefit to society. In that context, healthcare is one of the few areas where your old OP is an out and out Socialist.

Insurance on its own is a great and non-political idea. The idea that the loss suffered by individuals is easier borne over a larger pool of resources is the only logical system in a modern democratic society because of the above “rule”. In other words –since we all will bear the burden in some form of the losses of others, the most efficient and fair way of dealing with them is through the spreading of the risk/loss through the larger population. (“many hands make work light”).

When insurance becomes subject to capitalism however –that is when its rason d’etre becomes to make a profit, the resulting benefit to society is crippled, and in many cases destroyed. Decisions are made not based on what the most equitable and just way to spread the loss is, but whether the reduction in profits is worth it. The result is the current situation in which we find ourselves.

…and still there are those who are allegedly so passionate that we remain on the same course that they’ll shout down or even threaten violence to anyone who dares to try to discuss alternatives. Who are these people? What do they stand to gain from maintaining the status quo?

The Evil vs. Stupid question continues.