My daughter is a pre-med student in college working to be a pediatrician. She wrote the following on health care and gave me permission to share it with you here.
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Health care: The controversy of the moment in the United States
by Kelsey Johnson
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." -The Declaration of Independence
Health care: The controversy of the moment in the United States. With all the rumors and accusations flying around, it's hard to know what's true and what isn't true. Most Americans would agree that health care reform is needed, but no one seems to be able to agree on how to accomplish it so nothing gets done. Obama's administration has proposed health care reform; however, it has received tremendous opposition from the Republican party. With about one-third of the population living without insurance at some point in 2007 or 2008, Americans cannot afford to continue being petty and uncompromising ("Health Insurance Coverage"). It's time to get down to the facts and put aside political parties so that we can work towards a solution to the growing health care crisis.
Some facts about health care are:
- 62 percent of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were linked to medical expenses. Nearly 80 percent had health insurance ("Health Insurance Costs").
- The United States spends more money on medical care than any other industrialized country, yet it performs worse on nearly all measures of health care quality and health outcomes ("Health Care Quality").
- Out of 19 industrialized countries, the U.S. ranked last on deaths amenable to health care, which are deaths that could have been prevented with timely and effective care ("Health Care Quality").
- Overall, seniors pay about 22% of their income for health care costs despite their Medicare coverage ("Overview of the U.S. Health Care System).
- 80% of the uninsured are hardworking Americans who are employed or come from working families ("The Case for Universal Health Care").
- More than half of the uninsured postponed needed medical care due to financial concerns ("The Case for Universal Health Care").
- One third of uninsured Americans reported that they were unable to fill a prescription drug in the last year because of the cost ("The Case for Universal Health Care").
- As a result of difficulties accessing health care, the non-partisan Institute of Medicine estimates that the uninsured have an excess annual mortality rate of 25%. This increased mortality translates into 18,000 excess deaths for people between age 25-64 per year, which is of comparable magnitude to the number of people in this age group who die each year from diabetes, stroke, HIV, and homicide ("The Case for Universal Health Care").
- The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not have some form of universal health care (defined as a basic guarantee of health care to all of its citizens). ("The Case for Universal Health Care")
- Creating a universal, public financed plan would save $1.1 trillion over 10 years ("The Case for Universal Health Care").
Why does there need to be health care reform? Quite simply, everyone in America should have access to affordable health care because our country was founded on the basis that everyone is equal and should have equal opportunities; however, the health care industry does not treat everyone like equals. The facts are clear: No matter if you're insured, uninsured, young, elderly, working, jobless, whatever, most people feel the strain of health care. Americans are choosing to go without needed health care because they simply cannot afford it, which leads to unnecessary deaths. Just as we do everything possible to prevent unnecessary deaths caused by homicides, suicides, drunk driving, etc., we need to work with the same fervor to stop unnecessary deaths caused by inequalities in health care. Without proper affordable health care, the majority of Americans?both insured and uninsured?will not be able to obtain their constitutional rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Now that it has been established that health care reform is needed, why isn't health care reform happening? The number one reason why change isn't happening is due to the arguments between political parties. Recently I read two articles in Time magazine that discussed this problem. Accurately stated by Joe Klein, a lot of Republican politicians ".make precious few substantive arguments but oppose health-care reform mostly because passage would help Barack Obama's political prospects" (par. 6). In the case of health care, Republicans would rather turn a blind eye to inequality and allow the majority of Americans to suffer than support democratic legislation that would help a democratic president. The republicans have resorted to lies and deception to discredit the democratic health care plan. An example of this would be when ".Sarah Palin raised the remarkable idea that the Obama Administration's attempt to include [end-of-life] issues in its health-care-reform proposal would lead to ?death panels'" (Klein, par. 1). The connotation of the word ?death panels' is that a group of people will get to decide who lives and dies; however the purpose of so called ?death panels' is ".making end-of-life counseling free and available through Medicare" (Klein, par. 3). All this means is that ".an independent, professional authority figure." will help counsel the elderly about making plans and act as power of attorney if no one is predetermined to be one (Klein, par. 3). Joel Stein brings up a very interesting point when he admitted that ".we already have death panels; they just prefer to go by the name insurance companies. Some people get rejected by the death panels because of pre-existing conditions, lifetime-spending caps or drug co-payments they can't afford. Others die because they are freelancers and don't have insurance, so they don't go to doctors" (par. 2). Of course, not all Republicans agree with opposing the democratic legislation just because of political loyalties; however, instead of standing up for change, they choose to remain silent. Klein acknowledges that "until recently, the Republican Party contained a strong moderate wing. It was a Republican, the lawyer Joseph Welch, who delivered the coup de grace to Senator McCarthy when he said, ?Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?'" but Klein then poses the question: "Where is the Republican who would dare say that to Rush Limbaugh, who has compared the President of the United States to Adolf Hitler?" (par. 8). Instead of refusing to support legislation proposed by opposing political parties, Republicans and Democrats need to be willing to compromise and to work together to come up with a solution for the health care problem.
Kao-Ping Chua brings up a compelling point when he declared that ".the United States treats health care as a privilege, only available to those who can afford it. In this sense, health care in America is treated as an economic good like a TV or VCR, not as a social or public good" ("The Case for Universal Health Care"). Should a person be punished with sickness and suffering just because he or she cannot afford health care? I think not. It's time that America stops arguing about health care and starts reforming it. Does it really matter if it was a Republican or Democrat who wrote the health care reform legislation? Just as long as the change brings about equality in the health care system, it shouldn't really matter who suggested the change in the first place.
Works Cited
Klein, Joe. "Just Say No." Time 31 Aug. 2009: 16-17. Print.
Stein, Joel. "Can I Kill You?" Time 31 Aug. 2009: 56. Print.
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Know that you are loved,
@PastorGreg
Founder, www.LovingGodFellowship.org
