Health-care reform is the current buzzword in the media as of late and, especially this morning after the Great Illusionist's speech last evening. I did not hear the speech first-hand, but the media wags are dissecting the speech every which way today. Of course, every person feigning expertise has their own agenda which makes it very difficult to sort through the morass of information to ascertain what the 'facts' are. In truth, 'facts' can be made to speak in opposing directions with very little effort.
I recently heard an analogy that compared the health-care reform snake pit to a school district's referendum tax effort. School referendum taxes can be extremely difficult to pass, largely in part to the demographic composition of a school district. Unless the voter has children presently matriculated in the district, the attitude often is, 'Why should I pay for something that I cannot benefit from?' Or, 'I don't have kids in the district anymore, why should I pay for someone else's kids to go to school?'
This attitude does seem to reflect what I hear in conversations, listen to on the radio and television, and read in print. Every demographic has their sandbox-agenda and, by gum, they are going to defend and protect it 'til death do they part.
And yet, last night, I was made painfully aware of the need for some type of overhaul. A young man that my SO and I know was knocked off his bicycle yesterday, unfortunately, on his way to work. (As opposed to injured at work where at least his employer would have covered X-rays and subsequent treatment.) "Tim", I'll call him, is a seasonal worker and has no health insurance, plus probably does not make a very high hourly wage. At twenty-seven years of age, he has served in the military and recently graduated from college. His military service qualifies him for veterans' medical care. That is where the word 'benefit' becomes an oxymoron.
Because he cannot afford to seek medical treatment out of his own pocket, he has to rely on the government-run veterans' care and that is where the snafu becomes obvious and ludicrous. The nearest veterans'-care facility (approx. sixty miles) couldn't see him yesterday so he worked all day with a possible broken wrist because he couldn't afford to lose the wages. He was also told he might have to travel to a veterans'-care facility that is one hundred and fifty miles away for X-rays and treatment. He was given no time line. Just like the military.....hurry up and wait.
This is the same network that is run by people loaded with hubris, contemplating crafting a government-operated health-care system for our nation.
I'm all for reform. As "Tim's" experience demonstrates, it is badly needed plus my SO and I are other examples of another layer of society that is at high risk for loss of insurance benefits. We all know someone that is either uninsured, under-insured or has benefits that are tenuous and at the whim of some non-medical bureaucrat given the power to allow or deny medical coverage. BUT, I am fearful and suspicious, I think for good reason, to have our politicians craft any reform that is user-friendly.
Until our nationally elected officials are forced to experience the health-care snake pit that we citizens must traverse each and every day, there will be no health-care reform. These same nationally elected officials are privileged to have the best health care in the world. They simply have no incentive to spread that benefit downward.
Let's send our snake pit upwards.
Ancora imparo
