Sun 11 Oct 2009
the principalities and powers of healthcare
Posted by josh under Blog
[8] Comments
One of the surprising things to me about going through enrollment at Durham University was the Medical Registration. April went with me and she stopped one lady to ask what sort of paperwork would be required and how much it would cost for school insurance. The lady smiled and said, “Nothing dear. Just go through the line and sign up for it.” My wife’s mouth hit the floor and said, “You mean we don’t have to write anything down about pre-existing conditions?” The lady didn’t skip a beat, “That’s right. It’s free. This is health-care.”
Bill Moyers recently interviewed a former health insurance executive for CIGNA named Wendell Potter. In this clip, Potter explains how a group of insurance companies got together and formed a strategy to circulate misinformation about Michael Moore’s film Sicko and the health care issues that the film raises.
See full interview here
Being in the States this last summer, I was able to have many conversations about health care with my family members and friends. Most of the reasons that were given for being against health care that I heard people give me find their origin in this spinster strategy by the insurance companies.
What does one do when one hears from the horse’s mouth that the anti-health care scare is only propaganda? Does that change anything? Or is the media still discredited by obtaining a “liberal bias”?
What does it say about America, that I, as an American, in order to get health care, have to become an immigrant?
October 12th, 2009 at 5:02 am
Josh: I almost didn’t comment because it is too easy for isolated comments to be taken in ways they aren’t intended. But this is an important debate and I know you are fair-minded and curious. I offer these comments in the interest of looking at all sides of the issue. In no way am I trying to discount your questions or their implied answers.
First, there is a very real constitutional issue regarding socialized health-care in the USA. The actual words of the US Constitution and the explanations of the document by the writers make it very clear that the US federal government is not given power to implement a system like in the UK. However, the US federal government already oversteps its clearly drawn limits of power in many ways so maybe people really don’t care about this. If they do, the US Constitution can be amended, so it doesn’t mean socialized health-care can’t happen ultimately.
Second, proponents of socialized health-care in the US often bring up the abuses of the insurance companies. They are not wrong to bring up these abuses… but they usually go one step too far… in attributing these abuses to the “free market”. Actually, “free markets” do not provide fertile ground for the rise of corporations, but government managed economies *do*. This is exactly the case with health insurance companies in the USA. Josh, you mentioned talking about health-care with your family. I encourage you to ask your oldest surviving family members about health-care “back in the day”. I presume your family will tell you stories that match up pretty well with those of most Americans at that time… they dealt directly with a doctor that they knew personally, they saved up money, they paid over time, they bartered (sweet corn for immunizations maybe?), they passed the hat at work/church/rotary/elks/etc, and they had insurance to cover catastrophic events. If auto insurance today was like health insurance today, it would cover oil changes and car washes and if you had ever had a flat tire by running over a nail, your auto insurer wouldn’t cover you if you totaled your car from a blown tire even if it were a different tire 5 years later. So ask yourself “when/why/how did insurance change from a small part of a family’s umbrella of help medical expenses into what it is today?” Look to history for the answer… and the answer isn’t “free market”. The rise of corporations in general comes from government manipulation of the marketplace. The rise of health insurance companies in specific is a result of specific government manipulation in the health-care marketplace with the establishment of Medi-care and other government programs. This government manipulation created a HUGE gap in the marketplace that doesn’t usually exist in a free market and corrupt corporations were (and are) *very* happy to fill that gap.
I’m not saying we should or could go back to the “good ol’ days” but surely this issue is pivotal enough that we can look that direction to learn what we can learn…
You are asking good questions, Josh.
October 12th, 2009 at 8:00 am
It is so discouraging to see people on the political right, actually my own side of the spectrum, engaging in such clearly self-serving dribble and short-sided goals.
I feel a little like someone on the Titanic, surrounded by people sincerely insisting if we just trust the tried and true forces of the market, those good ol’ reliable properties of water, gravity, and buoyancy – that everything will just work out naturally for the common good. Everything will be just fine. After all, we’re on the best ship in the world, the envy of every other nation. And don’t these chandeliers look nice? Oh, someone just turned them off. And, yes, it does seem we may be listing twelve degrees to port. And look, a few hundred people have already fallen off. All steerage class folk so far, thank God. Poor chaps. But these scare-tactics by naysayers like Michael Moore have to stop. They just play on people’s fears with mere half truths. For example, yes, half of the ship does seem to be sinking. In fact, sinking a little faster now than it was ten minutes ago. But the other half is only just sinking a little bit. Why don’t we focus on that half? Why do we have to always be so negative? And, above all, whatever you decide to do, don’t try anything radical. You just might make things worse! Who knows, a few left wing blunders and we might all end up drowning in the North Atlantic. So, trust us, good people. We’ll be all right. We’ve made it this far. It’s all worked OK up to now. Steady on course now, boys. Steady on course.
Sometimes it is hard to hold on to being a conservative in the face some of the disingenuous and counterproductive dribble (unfortunately, I hear a fair share from the left, as well). Come on, people. Let’s just do something. Anything. The laissez-faire inertia of our medical industry is a monster slowly eating its own children. So, go ahead. Make a mistake here or there if you have to, but, for God’s sake make a decision! I’d rather my government risk and fail than simply stand frozen by polarizing special interests and partisan strategic attacks and defenses from all sides.
Hey, why not make congress follow the pattern of the college of cardinals. The college of cardinals gathers in Rome after the death of a Pontiff. In some medieval times, the cardinals were warmly welcomed and found the arrangement quite nice. The food, the facilities, the perks, were all quite enjoyable. And, so, the deliberations were, how shall we say this kindly, very carefully and very slowly made. Weeks. Months. These things can’t be hurried. After all, this was a big decision. Boy, the Vatican wised up pretty quickly. So they began (and still do) after a warm greeting, lock up all the cardinals in a medieval and intentionally non-modernized unheated area. No modern toilets. No comfortable furniture. No internet. No phones. No TV. Lousy beds. Just simply no modern conveniences. The food isn’t even that hot. And then the Swiss Guards just lock the doors, sealing them all in. They set guards at the doors, and no one gets in or out until they’ve made a decision. Period. Funny, how “let’s have another discussion” get’s pretty old when you’re freezing your rear end off. Amazing how fast the Holy Spirit is able to guide godly men under these circumstances.
Something must be done. Stephen, this evening, has a fever, aches, and feel sick. Read “F-L-U” He’s not an undocumented worker or even an unemployed single parent. He actually has medical insurance. But he cannot get Tamiflu, the one medicine that really works and has virtually no side effects. But, it must be administered within 24 hours of first flu symptoms to have any impact on the disease. So, he’s supposed to get up Monday morning and find a doctor, one who will actually see him tomorrow, pay first-visit fees (which, since he’s not met his deductable will not be reimbursed), go, sit, wait (and wait) and only then, maybe, get a prescription for Tamiflu or Relanza that, even with medical, will cost him another $20 to $50, if a local pharmacy even has it in stock. Best scenario: Most of a day. Well over a hundred dollars – all for a medicine that has no purpose except flu relief (not a hot item for teenage pot parties and it does not even prevent pregnancies). But, it also has no impact unless administered very early in the onset of the flu.
The TV talking heads can blab on as much as they want about what we ordinary folk are supposed to do when we get this symptom or that symptom. See your doctor immediately (serious voice here). Get the right tests (more serious voice). And then get these important medications to treat your condition (pharmaceutical commercial thrown in here). Just go out and actually try and do that, sometime. See how many phone calls you make? How long it takes? What extra tests are ordered (at yet another place) with their own costs? Then, make another visit back to your doctor for the results” Start adding up time and costs. Then, maybe, you’ll get to go to a local drug story and pay your $10 to $40 dollar co-pay – and all this for people with full time jobs who Medical insurance. And if you live in that most cursed place, the small town or rural area, just give it up and go home. Maybe take an aspirin or two.
We keep insisting we have the best health care system in the world. But insisting does not make it true. We certainly have some of the best research facilities, some of the world’s best doctors, and some of the most dazzling cutting edge technologies. Yeah! We win. (two pats on the back here) That is, unless you listen to the stories of middle class Americans, some with health insurance, put off and then struggle to pay for basic “this-will-keep-you-from-dropping-dead-in-a-few-years” medical care. And those are the good stories. Next go into the inner cities or the rural hills of Appalachia and listen to the stories of the poor. No, don’t. You’d quit listening to Fox News altogether.
It makes no sense to me, unless someone is trying to improve our species by natural selection. Let the rich ones live longer and better and we’ll get a better breeding herd next generation.
Wake up and smell the coffee, Washington. Do something.
October 12th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Oh man…there are sooooo many things wrong with this post that I do not know where to begin. The most important thing to remember is that health care is NEVER FREE. Whether the government operates it or it is run privately, it costs a lot of money and it will always be rationed according to need, according to age, according to cost. And who pays? One way or the other, we do. Through taxes, insurance premiums and early death…little gallows humor there.
But when the government runs it, an addtional and ever growing layer of bureacracy is added that continues to suck at the teat of the tax payer at an even greater rate than the current system. Government is the reason that health care costs so much here in the states right now and that will not get better with any new gov system.
As for Bill Moyers, he’s a left wing conspiracy theorist exactly like his right wing counter parts. He seldom hits the truth and is an advocate of big government.
Government involvement in anything, be it health care, housing, military entanglements or food and drug regulation will always move toward increasing it’s size and involvement and cost and decreasing it’s effectivness. It serves itself and cares little for the people it is suppose to serve. What’s more, government has no money of it’s own. It has to take it from us! We are seen as an endless supply of labor and cash so that they can continue to do badly everything they do while maintaining control.
If you want an affordable health care system, try taking government completely out of it. Prices would plummet. People could afford it. The need for costly insurance would decrease and be replaced with reasonably priced premiums.
If you want an example of goverment run health care in the US, look at the VA. Only vetrans without insurance use it. If you have a serious health problem you could end up dead very quickly in a VA hopital.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:01 pm
In Britain, the government controls the health service, but we spend just 6% of our GDP on health care, access is universal, and our health care system is ranked 18th in the world by the World Health Organisation. In contrast, the US spends a higher percentage of its GDP that ANY other country in the world, and is ranked 37th. Surely that disparity, alongside anecdotal evidence like Josh’s, should at least raise questions about the argument that free markets offer the best health care solutions?
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:14 pm
That’s the problem. WE DO NOT HAVE A FREE MARKET. The government has been involved in health care in this country since 1968 in a very direct sense because of Medicare, Medicaid and every other Great Society program (LBJ Administration) that concerns health. The increase in regulations from that time to the present has caused costs to explode and it has driven down quality considerably.
The numbers you sight are clearly exagerations provided by a socialist source. What? The UN? I can provide numbers that are dramatically different, though they would be better if government were not involved in health care. They too come from a non-objective source.
As for Britain, there was a day when the sun never set in the Empire, but look at you now.
Your middle and upper classes are fleeing the country due to the high tax. You have massive immigration problems. I have no doubt that you will soon be living under Sharia law along with France and Germany.
I cannot think of anything worse for America than to become another Europe, but that seems to be what’s happening. We seem to have forgotten here why our ancestors left the old country.
Opportunity dies when socialism rules. We all become equally poor…except for the elite that move back and forth between the private sector and government at will.
I’m sick and tired of government opression. Every single social problem in Europe and the US has been exacerbated and prolonged by government involvement and it ensures continued growth of government. At this rate there will soon be no one left to pay the bills (taxes) becasue we will all be working for our governments.
Let’s try real freedom again and see if it works. Let the politicians find honest employment.
You forget one other thing. The USA has been shackled with the defense of Europe and Japan since the end of World War II. It’s been a very costly proposition. We might actually be able to pay for our domestic social problems if we pulled our troops home, closed our military bases world wide and left ya’ll to fend for yourselves. I think it might be time to do that.
It’s been a long time since you on the other side of the pond have had to actually pay for your own protection. I think it’s time.
Maybe we can move the UN to London too. I think they would be happier there.
October 22nd, 2009 at 8:42 pm
jeff, thanks for your lively (crazed?) input!
i tend to not comment on my own posts, but your last comment made me wonder about something that you’re assuming, namely:
how does being and american differ from being a european?
it seems like the american health care debate has bled into being an issue, not for national security (well, some might claim that), but national identity.
i just wonder how you’d differentiate this…
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:14 am
It depends how old you are. There is very little difference between an American that’s 35 or younger and a European.
And since you think I’m crazed, I will leave you and your blog alone. I will be sure to recommnd it to others that want to know more about what you really think however. It’s been very enightening.
October 24th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Wow Josh, you just got your first veiled threat! See it’s Glenn Beck wannabes like Jeff that made us at AUFS adopt such an aggressive comment policy. Basically, no reason to give morons more space to spread moronic ideas. I mean, the UN as socialist source? My god! I bet he agrees with Nick Griffin about the BBC being too left wing.