Till Debt Do Us Part
Till Debts Do Us Part…
Driving to work one morning I was listening to my favorite radio station, NPR (please listen and contribute to http://www.npr.org ). As often, a bit of news captured my interest and immediately involved my heart. Somewhere in the US, recently, a dying man asked his wife to divorce him in order to avoid being responsible for the ½ million dollars debt his medical treatment generated. She refused…
It is not often that I hear a story where love triumphs over greed, evil, whatever, and I was closed to tears as I imagined the situation and its meaning. A great sadness overcame me as I realized that this single bit of news probably represented a low point for our entire culture. Such values as love, faith, effort, hope, cooperation are pushed at the forefront of our media-saturated national scene on a daily basis. Entire campaigns are run over who is more virtuous than whom and even blatant lies and extreme social positions are forgiven in the light of an advertised strong stance on said values. Then such situations as the one described above occur and the true face of reality, in all its obscene ugliness is revealed.
I come from a country that has a national healthcare and where this coverage works. I am not saying it is flawless and solves all health related problems, just that everyone is covered (with the extremely small exception of a few administrative loopholes). I often hear on US television that such a solution would never work in our country, that European countries are much smaller and thus present a unique situation. Unfortunately for these mouth pieces, I studied global health coverage in my early university years and can tell you that such statement is completely wrong. Global healthcare coverage works better as its base grows in size. Granted, the Baby Boomers are likely to create an overload, for some time, but will not bankrupt the system. I believe the key to the national resistance to such a solution is based upon four misconceptions:
- Global health care is considered a ‘socialist’ measure. Get over it people, this is just a word and it is about time that the brain washing message of the McCarthy years is left behind. By socialist, understand ‘with a social goal’. Now how is this bad?
- A global solution will increase taxes. Considering how much insured people are now paying for their plans, I am pretty certain that the same money can be added to taxes and would result in an even exchange. I must admit that I do not have data about this fact and am just basing my remark upon the fact that 25% to 30% of HMO costs goes to administrative expenses, including the insane salaries of their CEOs.
- Why should I pay for someone else’s coverage? It is true that some families will not pay taxes toward the global health coverage. However, as we live in a large community named the United States, cannot we find it in our heart to share the wealth so that others ‘lives can be preserved? Or have we grown so self-centered that such a perspective repulses us?
- Insurances should be allowed to make profit. Free enterprise is a fundamental American value. True enough, but health is a fundamental national issue and should not be abandoned to capitalistic greed. One’s life is and will always be worth more than mere money and I consider it a basic governmental function to help preserving citizen’s health. Hence the need to a national, government-managed system.
- Doctors have worked hard and should be able to make a profit. Of course, but then consider, as I mentioned it before, that 20 to 25 percent of HMOs cost goes to administrative expenses. Doctor’s salaries are not in question here, they should be justly paid for their high level of skills. Health insurances, on the other hand, add nothing to our society well-being and could be replaced completely by a federally-run, non-profit, system.
When it all comes down to it, from corporations to individuals find it hard to spend money for others,. We have grown into egocentric, wealth-centric citizens who sympathize at others’ problems yet do very little to solve them. Truth is, we are all in this together. Next time you pledge your faith, values, good intent, think about all those who are dying and ruined because of medical costs, think about families sent in tragedy because they could not afford an easy cure, think about how ridiculously fake any righteous statement sounds in comparison. Health is one’s most important ‘possessions’ and no politician will have my attention until he/she offers a viable, solid and driven plan for global health coverage.