Ok, most of what I write here is usually nature and philosophically related. I hate politics and usually don't like to get caught up into political debate. Many times it is a struggle of one power (read money) against another power (read more money). I have always thought that we should have terms limits across the board (yes, that includes the Supreme Court) and maybe, just maybe, we would have more statesmen (and stateswomen) come forward to serve their country, not the politician with agendas to fill and pork to send home. We would also have to have election reform because you cannot get elected without lots of money backing you (and usually one of the parties, but don't get me started on our party system!).
What has brought me out to want to voice my opinion is the health care debate. So many of us are tired of paying huge prices for health care and being totally at the mercy of the insurance company. We all want affordable health care. But the plan ahead of us thinks that by putting slight pressure on insurance companies that they will mend their ways.. HA. If you are old enough, think back to when insurance was to cover going into the hospital or catastrophic injuries. ER visits were covered because people usually only went to the ER for true emergencies. Doctors office visits were reasonable, medicine didn't cost as much and tests weren't as sophisticated and expensive.
Insurance companies came in and said we can cover all of this, just pay us a bit more.
And they did and everyone one seemed happy. Most people didn't know that the coverage they now had greatly increased the hospitals and physicians overhead. Now it seems there are more people working in hospitals and doctor offices to keep up with the billing and insurance paperwork than actually are there to help you feel better. And I have never met a "poor" insurance executive.. If you want to see a great video, go to http://pol.moveon.org/insurance_execs/?id=17285-2656214-4O57_7x&t=2 and see Will Ferrel talk about health care reform.
Medicine is a healing art. We need to decrease the big business aspect of medicine and decrease the cost of medicine in this country. Having a single payer system with possible supplemental insurances is something to think about. Look at the French system. Are we too proud to realize that our system is broken and we need to look around at ones that are working? We as Americans also need to step up and claim some responsibility. Many of the diseases are self inflicted.. Look at our habits, our diet. If we took better care of ourselves, our health care cost would go down and this has nothing to do with access to health care. This has to do with taking charge of your own life and eating better and exercise more. This 2 things would lead to healthier Americans and less health care costs.. It's up to us.
I have not been a fan of Michael Moore and his films.. To be honest, I haven't seen any of them. But his newest film on Capitalism also strikes at the heart of medicine. He made a film on a single payer health system, but we don't have unlimited resources to run any and every test on any person that wants it. To say health care is a right is placing the emphasis on in the wrong direction. It is a privilege that we enjoy by the prosperity of living in the this country. But to abuse ourselves abuses that privilege and to expect all of us to pay for a person's choice of lack of self control when it leads to adverse health is wrong. A single payer system will only work when we are also made accountable for the health care choices we make.
When we look at nature, there is hope. We can change and have a rebirth. Just like the butterfly, it takes stages to reach the beautiful flying jewel we see. We are at a stage where we have to make a choice of responsibility or self indulgence. The fat cats of big business would love to see us more self indulgent, because they will just get richer.. But there is still a choice!
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