One of the few non-lobby, non-industry witnesses at Congressional health care hearings. As he speaks, you can hear that he is not motivated by trying to increase his personal income, but from recent, direct experience in trying to run a small business and dealing with health care from that perspective.
This article in the current Economist magazine has an interesting discussion regarding the process of reforming health care, and includes some opinion polling regarding the general opinion offered of the issue. As we saw last week, the public's opinion on health care reform is sharply different depending on how you frame the question.
Another article that I've found today from The New Republic suggests that one driving force in this debate is again going to be the young, as they drop off of health care plans that were in force due to their enrollment in education. Where are they to go now?
The other day, I was at a function and listened to a small group of men across age groups who were united in their rejection of any change to the status quo ante. Yet, they had no personal connection with any need for change - none of them had been rejected for pre-existing conditions, none had experienced difficulty in accessing benefits because none had been sick and apparently didn't know anyone - they were only parroting what they'd heard in the way of 'socialized medicine restricts choice' and 'Canadians have to wait for health care'.
People who have faced not having health care, who are unable to buy medication, see a doctor, see a specialist, get coaching from a health educator, or who find themselves in the cataclysmic place of having accessed health care and then having their claim retroactively denied cannot understand this argument.
Last night, I was talking with some close friends about religion and the Bible, and the idea was batted around that many people don't really know what the Bible says, and that a common teaching originating from those that are seeking to protect the status quo is to advise those who are not learned that people who study and try to understand can "twist the meaning and the words to fit their agenda".
The same thing is happening here in this debate, as it does in all elements of human discourse. Reasonable minds can easily agree about a path, but nearly all humans have the same goals and outcomes in common.
Whether one is inclined to favor single payor health care, or keep everything the same "but keep the damned lawyers from ruining everything" - keeping an open mind, hearing and learning as much as possible, and pushing away headlines and talking points in favor of doing your own research will provide for the most balanced outcome.
This is my first post using a new Firefox plug in that easily allowed me to haul in references and links, and post them most effectively, so it may look a little clunky. I'll learn, though
No comments:
Post a Comment