Health Care
The truth about the anti-health care reform rally in Washington, DC
Mar 24th
There are really only a limited number of conclusions that can be made concerning the media coverage of the anti-health care reform rally that took place in Washington, DC, 20-21 March 2010. Among those conclusions, I have first hand experience that no coverage that I’ve seen thus far has been anywhere close to accurate. I was there all day long on the Capitol grounds on both Saturday and Sunday.
The majority of media coverage that I have seen portrays the numbers as much fewer than I experienced and characterized the group as out of control racists coordinated by the GOP. I received no such request by any political group, nor did my traveling companions, one of which was a lifelong Democrat. I saw and met thousands of people from all around the country who are concerned about losing their freedom and desired that the government return to operating within its Constitutional limits of power. Not one time did I hear, nor did I read any sign that was racist in nature or intent. I saw people of all ethnic backgrounds and races on both sides of the issue co-mingling through the crowds and saw not one instance of the hatred that the media projected upon the participants of this rally.
I walked around and throughout the crowd seen in this video on Saturday, and found less than a dozen participants (anti-war protesters) who were not part of the anti-health care bill sentiment. This video give a good impression about how many participants there were at the height of the rally.
Anti-health care reform rally, Washington, DC, 20 March 2010
Rally participants outside of congressional office buildings.
Where was the media when I saw someone through a window on the third floor of our Nation’s Capitol, the House Rules Committee Office, flip a middle finger to American Citizens on the ground below on Sunday? What that unknown servant of the People projected in their crass salute was a metaphor for what a majority of the House of Representatives would do to the American People later that day.
This is the first time that I have experienced firsthand the incompetence and bias in the mainstream media. It is sure not to be the last.
Changing the Semantics of Health Care
Feb 11th
Barack Obama meets with healthcare stakeholders
Regardless of the outcome of the current administration’s efforts to reform health care, one fact will always remain true. Health care is expensive, and it will continue to remain expensive. The science of maintaining a human being through medical means has progressed into some really impressive, and perhaps over effective areas.
And with that science comes prolonged life spans. We live longer if we take care of ourselves, and enjoy a higher quality of life for a far longer time than did any of our ancestors.
With that comes some mental and emotional responsibility, however. While it has always been natural for humans to fear death. it’s entirely possible that we have, at least in the United States, come to EXPECT a long life as a right. We often confuse privileges and rights here. I’m not sure that our Founding Fathers assumed we were all due prolonged medical treatment with the cost being passed on to the general public. And by that, I don’t necessarily mean through federally subsidized health care, but even through increased insurance costs to everyone.
So I think we as Americans need to adopt some simple truths into our way of thinking about mortality, and our way of life.
We Don’t Save Lives. We Prolong Them
One of the biggest semantic mistakes I think we make is using the term “saving lives”. To date, no one has lived forever. Yet when we use terms such as “that surgeon saved my life” we project a tremendous untruth. The surgeon, skilled as he or she may be, prolonged your life. They didn’t save it. In fact, no one can save your life.
It’s our fear of death that causes us to talk this way. I think that we have subconsciously failed to accept however that some day, despite years of medical treatment, costing thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, we are going to die.
So what role does that play in our health care expenses? They are clearly beyond our means as it is. And it drives us towards some tough choices.
Is there a measurable right time to stop medical treatment for an individual, and let them go?
Is there a right time for insurance, public or otherwise, to stop covering treatments when a case is “beyond normal help”?
Should public insurance provide medical treatment in cases where private insurance wouldn’t, theoretically giving the disadvantaged people BETTER healthcare than paying subscribers?
These are all difficult questions, and they must be answered before any meaningful healthcare reform can take place.
And I think we really need to stop believing we will live forever before ANY of them can be answered, and we can move forward with reasonable, effective, and affordable medical protection for Americans.
Note: Photo Courtesy of Wikicommons.