Healthcare Hyperventilating

Growing up, my parents and teachers stressed the importance of personal responsibility. Over and over I heard the mantra that my life would be what I would make of it – positive or negative outcomes depended upon my decisions, my preparation, my effort. The outcome was under my control.

Presumably, this holds true for everyone.

But as I've lived, I've seen individual outcomes that don't appear to flow from individual decisions. I've seen enormous effort go unrewarded, meticulous preparation end in naught. A vegetarian athlete succumb to an early heart attack – an unapologetic chain-smoker live into his 80's. I've seen cancer strike a very young friend – and a good family flirt with poverty when their spouse and father died, leaving behind no life insurance because of a heart defect uncovered when he was 17.

The Health Arbiter of the Universe metes out health and illness in only a broadly discernible pattern – but it would be rare for us to be able to say of a stricken individual: “She surely deserves her cancer with the way she's lived her life!” Yes, some things, like smoking, do have a stronger correlation, but even so, you have to remember that for our parents' generation and before, medical doctors actually recommended smoking! So, making a seemingly good decision based upon available evidence turned out bad...

As a result, I'm loathe to pass judgment on an individual about their deservedness, about their future potential. Receiving preventative and restorative medical care, regardless, gives people the ability to engage in society and provide the best they can. I certainly believe that a wealthy nation like ours (for we certainly, and by all standards, are an extremely wealthy nation) should ensure that health care is available and affordable by all members, without distinction. Perhaps all employers provide it, and we share the cost by paying slightly more for goods and services at the checkout. Perhaps the government provides it for the unemployed, and we all share the cost through a small tax. Perhaps....we could come up with many options, and there are many countries around the world that already do it: We could shop around for the best, and produce an amalgamation better than any other.

Sadly, from the information that I've heard and read, that's not what we've gotten. There are provisions in the new Health Care Law that my education and experience flag. I'm particularly distressed over the emphasis on Corporate Welfare, and the strict avoidance of any countervailing publicly administered provision. I am concerned that while expanding Health Care Affordability, we've also expanded the Health Care monopoly, and that monopoly will work to undermine what has been done.

Perhaps your experiences and education flag similar or different portions of this law. That you, too, were hoping that we could provide for all, but that there are portions that need some re-work.

Which historically, is almost a given with any legislation. There are portions that work as intended, portions that work better than intended, and portions that miss their mark, having unintended consequences, some good, and some decidedly bad. The causes of the bad consequences will have to be determined and revised. We have yet to make a 'final' law. I'm certain that we both foresee such an outcome for this specific piece of legislation also.

But there is nothing in this law that advocates or authorizes violence; nothing that reduces or restricts our ability to participate in government through democracy; nothing that eliminates our presumption of innocence before the law (the provisions prohibiting the use of pre-existing conditions and rescission perhaps strengthen this); nothing that decreases our freedom to make decisions about how to live our life: What to do, where to live, what to eat, how to play, etc.

So screams of 'tyranny' are just hyperbole, the fear-mongering of a 'descent into submission and slavery' just hyperventilating, and the name calling just meanness.

The act of providing health care to those members of society who formerly could not have it is not an act of fear, greed, or hate, but an act of compassion. And so far, countries have not fallen because they were too compassionate towards their own people – it is hatred, fear, and greed that do in empires.

Providing Health Care is one of those endeavors where compassion and greed collide and co-exist. It is the greed woven into this law that concerns me most, that makes me fearful that instead of just providing a little more equality in our society, a little more financial security, it will also be a net transfer of wealth to the already wealthy.

But it is the compassion inherent in this legislation that encourages me. It bolsters my desire to see Health Care provided to all, and stokes my enthusiasm that we are at least moving in that direction. Taking care of each other, even at some cost to ourselves, is one of those 'Good Things' that makes living in human society special and rewarding. Yes, when we show compassion towards another, we do open ourselves up to being taken advantage of. However, the majority of people reciprocate – and as I opened this essay by observing that most of those on the medical down and out aren't lazy or foolish, I think that we can expect for many lives, this act will make a difference, reducing fear and insecurity, and improving health. Their gain will be society's gain, our gain, and the hand-wringing will look small and selfish.

So take a deep breath. There's no need to damage your health with undue agitation over the passage of this law, no need to infect your mind with hatred, no need to lower your morals by considering others unworthy.

Who knows? You might live longer and happier as a result!