Brief Healthcare Rant

I've got this friend - she's a pretty cool camper, but unfortunately her parents weren't of the right ideological orientation.....so she struggles with things that come easily to the rest of us. Nationalized Health Care is the perfect example.

(As an aside: knowing that she and I disagree on this issue - I pretty much try to bring it up/steer any conversation we have, onto Healthcare policy. You'd be surprised how easy it is to transform a conversation about daily everyday minutiae into one of national policy.)

So my friend - let's call her Dolly Filartiga, after my new favorite case - anyway Dolly grew up in a pretty conservative/libertarian family - primary mantra being "personal responsibility" (BTW, this term has done wonders for my ability to control my gag reflex....) - so she thinks that people should pay for their own healthcare. For her it's all about 'fairness' - her favorite point of argument is "I'm a smoker, and I assume the risk that I'll get cancer, it's unfair to force anyone else but me to pay for my cancer treatment" she has a similar argument for obesity. Of course there are about a million ways to counter this position, not the least of which is that to me 'fairness' isn't implicated when you deny healthcare to 17% of your populace because they're poor - but hey I guess that's why they have charities (Heavy Sarcasm Intended).

Enough with the back story.....

Dolly called me today - to complain about something relating to Bush's Asia Trip - I can't really remember - I was reading IBT. Anyway, after half-listening for awhile - I grabbed an opportunity to refocus the conversation, and we had a good 30 minutes of Socialized Healthcare v. The Status Quo - where I learned a number of things:

1. People who have had 'personal responsibility' ingrained in their being since the age of 3 - aren't easily persuaded
2. Idealogues balk at being confronted with 'hard' evidence that their 'way' costs more and delivers less
3. 'Fairness' might be the most relative term in the world
4. To make headway you really need to get personal, e.g. "If you're so committed to personal responsibility, perhaps you should voluntarily repay the gov't for subsidizing your student loans - or give back the Pell Grants awarded to you."
5. Rationality and Logic don't work for people ideologically 'attached' to certain positions - this is really point number 2 rephrased - but damn - Only in the twisted world of conservative 'personal responsibility' ideology does it make sense that the U.S. spends double the amount on healthcare that the rest of the western world spends in order to receive healthcare that is below average.

One last thing - as per the cruel functioning of our current healthcare system - namely that more than 10 million kids don't have access to healthcare - her suggestion: Lower Taxes, and people will give more to charity - and these charities can take care of these indigent kids.

All I can say is: What the fuck? Don't our kids deserve better, don't they deserve public accountability as opposed to 'look the other way' reliance on personal donations.....Christ - I'm beginning to understand why the Republican Party has such a big Christian base - if you're going to hold a position, hold it religiously.....regardless of logic, reason, fairness, or compassion for your fellow man.

One last gripe (really this is the last one) - it really pisses me off when people 'make it' in this world with the help of government assistance (e.g. public education, state higher education, subsidized loans, etc.) and then once they've taken their benefit - they're so quick to deny others the opportunity afforded to them.....in the name of ideological adherence. Holy hypocritical.