First off, let me set the record straight on this. I am Canadian. I live in the northern half of North America. My national animal is the beaver, my flag has a maple leaf on it and, most importantly, my doctors charge my government for my health care costs, not me personally. Given this, I don't think its surprising that the health care debate which has raged for the past year in the United States has perplexed, confused and even enraged me. Specifically, the arguments put forth by the Republican party in their attempt to keep health care privatized read like propaganda and scare tactics and their cold callousness chills me to the core. It's for this reason, as a left-wing liberal, as a Canadian, and most importantly as someone who CARES, I'd like to use this blog to expose for a moment the plot holes in their self-centered arguments.
The most immediate anti-public option argument that comes to mind whenever I think of this debate is the idea that somehow, allowing the government to foot one's health care bill is anti-democratic. This is somewhat understandable, given America's intense belief in democracy and the freedom of choice. My question, however, is how allowing the government to pay for your health care bills is destroying your freedom of choice? Granted, it would mean the end of the variety of HMOs which currently provide health care coverage in the United States, but when you consider how spotty their track record is regarding coverage, and the fact that they routinely deny patients in need coverage in order to cover their own bottom lines, this hardly seems like a great loss. In fact, a government health care plan would give you MORE choice, since it eliminates the financial burden on the individual in terms of their health care and thus frees up more money to be spent elsewhere in the economy on whatever items/services the person chooses. After all, isn't an open market one of the cornerstones of American society?
Another argument against government health care is that the government should never get between you and your doctor. My answer to this is to simply ask whether things are currently any different? After all, technically speaking, the HMO's ALREADY get between patients and their doctors, forcing people through layers of red tape and financial burdens then denying the coverage at the critical moment when life is on the line. At least with the government controlling the health care of the nation, profit margin would not enter into the equation and therefore everyone would have a better chance of securing the care they need. Many Republicans would be quick to accuse such a scheme of setting up government death panels that arbitrarily decide who lives and dies based on the resources available, but being Canadian and living in a country with public health care, I can safely say I've never served on or been before such a committee. Again...these death panels already DO exist in the form of the HMOs, and if Republicans were really serious about combatting such an idea, they would not be so quick to condemn the public option.
The real problem is, of course the fact that the Republican Party is the party of the wealthy and the elites of American society...the ones who make all the money and stand to lose the most in any social equilization scheme. I'm not even going to pretend to be unbiased in this--I have no love for that party, or their Canadian analogue the Conservative Party of Canada, and this is not helped along by the fact that many of the big medical companies are in bed with the Republicans. They are one of the most dangerous things a democracy could ever face: a federal political party bought and paid for by private business interests. THIS is the true threat to democracy, not socialized medicare, because THIS is what is stopping the government from addressing the needs of the common people. Is it really fair that millions of people go without coverage and even more with coverage are denied care based on profit margins alone simply because the Republicans need a new gold-plated toilet seat for their bathrooms? No, it isn't, and this apathy towards their fellow people is why they are so dangerous.
To sum it all up, the Republicans claim that by opposing the public option, they defend the right of all Americans to choose how and where they find their care, but it is easy to say such a thing and willingly ignore the HMO death panels that already exist when your government job gets you one of the best medical plans in the country. Their scare campaign is merely that: propaganda and stubbornness designed to keep the common people on their sides and the HMOs in their beds. It is a culture of greed, pure and simple, and until that changes I'm not sure how much hope America has of reforming its health care system. No money for such a change? PLEASE! Look at how much of America's budget each year is spent on defence and the military, and that argument seems all the more ridiculous. Maybe if the Americans spent less money on fighting wars in foreign countries whose affairs are none of their business and more on their own people, the situation would finally change. Considering the nature of politics in Washington, however, that may indeed be a pipe dream after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment