Day 5! The culmination of Universal Healthcare Week. We’ve talked about what’s good and bad, and I walked you through the kinds of questions I want answered from both sides. Since you stuck around all week reader, you must be anxious to know my opinion now. Or maybe you just happened to find this website by chance; either way, read on.
My opinions are not what your opinions should be. However I formed my opinions after many hours of research, thus I’m able to make an informed decision. Please educate yourself before taking sides in anything, as this project almost made me a convert.
Political pundits have a way of convincing Americans to take sides. There is left or right, in or out, black or white, no gray or in between. The truth is we live in a world filled with gray, but the hardcore fanatics get all the attention. I pity those that formulate opinions based on the words of an extremist. I don’t support our current healthcare system, but I don’t have faith in a universal system working either.
I’m stuck in the middle, leaning to the side of private healthcare. The foundation for my opinion is a lack in faith of our government being able to properly institute a universal system. Supporters of universal healthcare suffer from a confirmation bias. They want the system to work, and cite sources like “Sicko” as reasoning. While the documentary sends a powerful message, it was created by a man with an outspoken and highly advertised political bias. There will always be stories of people screwed by the current system, but there is not shortage of disadvantages of universal healthcare. Instead of cherry picking facts and stories, the universal healthcare extremists must silence their critics.
To those supporting our current system: While I believe the market is capable of setting prices and regulation, sometimes the market isn’t fast enough. There are times when the government needs to have a role. The market would eventually bankrupt a company that sells ground beef from mad cow infested livestock, but the FDA can shut it down a lot faster, or keep it from happening altogether.
My argument is hence based on substantial healthcare reform. In case you didn’t know, some doctors receive incentives from pharmaceutical companies to prescribe their drugs over others. There should be no such concept as a kickback from a drug company to a doctor. That kickback is built into the cost of the drug, thus making it more expensive, lest we forget the whole conflict of interest in a kickback. The Weakonomist feels a good drug would sell itself, and sees no need in a “pharmaceutical sales rep” either.
There is also the problem with cost. Healthy people can generally afford coverage, but with extreme illness or chronic disease, you can spend your life paying for hospital bills. The health savings account is great, but it requires you to guess your expenses at day one. Making all healthcare costs tax deductible would be great, but that still doesn’t lower the cost of coverage. Without knowing all the intricacies of the US healthcare industry, I can’t know where to attack costs first. Tort reform? Subsidized research? Supplemental health insurance? I don’t know what exactly should be done to bring costs down, I just know they have to come down.
When I say reform, I’m not telling you everything I feel should be done, I’m still not informed enough to make such recommendations. That’s why we have Congress, subcommittees, and expert testimony. Would I want to be a part of a round table discussion? Sure, but that isn’t likely. What I can do is support legislators that share my feelings, and express my concerns to those that don’t.
So with that we say farewell to Universal Healthcare Week. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing. Below you will find a list of resources for additional reading. Become educated and form your own opinions. Thanks for reading!
Editor’s note: These were not the only sources used, but I’m not going all MLA or APA on a blog.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States
http://www.citizensadvisory.org/news/Advisories/UniversalHealthCare.html
http://cthealth.server101.com/the_case_for_universal_health_care_in_the_united_states.htm
http://www.balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm
 By The Weakonomist |
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