What to do with Healthcare: Is our system of healthcare truly as broken as we are told, or is that only one side of the story? Some would argue that we absolutely must cover every person in America with some form of blanket healthcare coverage and inevitably a number of people will also pipe in and point to Cuba as an example of a healthcare system that works exceptionally well. That got my goat today, so here we go…
People can (and do) point all they want to the Cuban healthcare system and wonder why we cannot adopt a good number of those ideas and programs into our own system. The main problem with that entire line of thinking (just my humble opinion mind you) is that within a dictatorship, you can eradicate all of the little inconveniences that get in the way of deploying your vision of effective care. Inconveniences such as Doctor’s who want to specialize, patients who want a different doctor, people who want the freedom to have a voice in how they are treated or cared for. These are all tiny, inconsequential things right? Pesky freedoms that don’t do anyone any good… Hmmm?
But why can’t we cover everyone in America? Make everyone get a mammogram or get a cholesterol test etc.? That’s a worthy goal, right? It has to be, because it’s for their own good, isn’t it? Can’t we mandate that everyone must go to the doctor? Can’t we just make it a law that everyone everyone Freedom demands choice, and choice ruins the neat little formulas created within isolated microcosms such as Cuba because like it or not people cannot be forced not to make stupid decisions without first taking away their freedom to choose.
The entire Cuban system of healthcare relies upon one linchpin principle which is also the reason it cannot work anywhere else: The lack (and elimination) of the freedom of all parties involved to choose the means or manner of their own care or the choice of a provider in how they will provide that care. Within the Cuban healthcare system the doctors cannot choose where or how to practice, patients cannot choose a different doctor and the government has the final say in what care is provided to whom. The only reason their system works at all (and it only works at the most fundamental preventative care levels anyway) is because their people have been robbed of any say in the matter .
It’s a much simpler thing to manage a healthcare system if you don’t ever have to worry about somebody making a choice on their own; why would they need to? You’ve done it for them already, right? Cattle can be handled and cared for far easier than free-thinking people, can’t they? So why not manage our healthcare system like Cuba does by managing the people as if they too are just cattle to be herded and corralled? It’s for their own good, right? Will that make it OK?
And just for the sake of argument; Why is it that every time healthcare comes up we have to assume that the American Healthcare system is failing based on the fact that some people choose not to participate? There are (whether we like it or not) Emergency rooms available to everyone, so why is it someone doesn’t see a Doctor in 10 years? Well, I would say that unless someone has been holding that person in their basement dungeon, it has been through personal choice. I suppose you can’t force people to make better decisions, you can inform and educate them, giving them the opportunity to make better decisions, but without taking their decision making power away from them by force of law, you can’t ever save them all.
But we need to save them all, don’t we?
People choose not to go to the doctor either out of fear, past experiences, ideology; whatever and they pay the very real and very personal price for those choices, and to a much lesser degree, those of us paying our premiums who make better choices also end up paying for the care of those who will not or cannot by paying the rising costs of care. How does it ever make sense that our Healthcare system is somehow broken just because it doesn’t cover every single person in America? What are we going to do? Hunt down every uncovered person and force them into the hospital?
And isn’t that exactly what we are talking about here? With Obamacare we (yes, I said “we” because we voted these pointy-headed fools into office that passed this mess into law) take away that freedom of choice by mandating coverage. Where does this end? Is forcing all institutions to provide abortion coverage even against their own will or religious beliefs the only freedom to fall by the wayside? Hardly. This initial battle over abortion and contraception care is by far just the first shot across the bow of every American. Letting you know that unless you stand up and be heard, all of your choices will be taken away from you and you will be left wondering how you got into this particular corral and who the hell put this stinkin cow-bell around your neck?
That is the communist Cuban approach. I can’t possibly be the only one that sees this coming down the pike; lots of people much smarter than I have warned of this happening and we are just now starting to see what it is becoming. If we mandate a single payer system, we cut the heart and sole out of America, we take away those very freedoms we hold dear; those freedoms that make us uniquely exceptional and yes, those freedoms that even allow us to make stupid, idiotic choices from time-to-time. Our right to choose, to make our own choices be they wise or stupid are ours to make and by God we should not be driven like cattle into a corral in the form of socialized medicine with no will or power to act on our own behalf.
I’ve seen what crappy healthcare can do firsthand: It nearly killed my wife and I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit by and allow my freedom to choose a more effective healthcare provider to be taken away from me just because it’s not on the mandatory plan shoved down my throat by some bureaucrat.
Just my view from the cheep seats…
0
0
15
20
well, kind of interesting post, thank you.