Obamacare
Posted by Mike | Filed under Commentary
Today I watched a video called the DC Tea Party which was about the protesting of the proposed changes by the Obama administration to move towards universal health care. I was shocked at the responses by the uninformed people that were protesting. But first, let me say that I do not have all the answers and I do not, for a minute, believe that I know everything about the situation.
The biggest problem with the average American (in this instance) is that they do not bother to do the simplest research. As soon as someone hears socialist they immediate start to panic and begin thinking bad. While watching the clip I heard socialism interchanged with communism. Fist off, do a quick Wikipedia search of Socialism and read the page… better yet I’ll give you the link Socialism.
It is often said that a society can be judged how it treats its weakest members. If you were to simply judge America on that regard, then the country as a whole does not fare very well. Everyone has a spell of bad luck in their life, it may not be that bad, but it still exists. Why should someone, who is normally a productive and contributing member of society, be punished for being down on their luck? If you get cancer and don’t have health insurance because you company went bankrupt (through no fault of your own), is it fair that you now only can live a few more months? And what if Johnny’s mom, who cannot afford health care insurance because she is a single mom taking care of three kids, is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and needs medicine she cannot afford? If the world was 100% meritocratic (meaning that those who don’t have, or can’t afford, health insurance it through their fault only) then maybe (and I stress a BIG maybe) publicly funded health care wouldn’t be necessary.
I can understand not wanting to pay for freeloaders in society, but I would rather pay for a 10 freeloaders if it meant helping one deserving person. If you had to pay $1000 extra a year in taxes, and you knew right from the get go that only 10% of that would go to a deserving person wouldn’t you want to pay that extra $1000 a year? What if that 10% of your money could help a child, who is simply a victim of circumstances out of their control, recover from a automobile accident in which his or her spine was damaged – would you want to help then? Of course there is going to be freeloaders in society, there always will be. I would love for all social services to be perfect and not dole out money to those who have done nothing to earn (or deserve it). But should those who are deserving of help be denied it because of a few bad apples? Are you willing to explain to a child why their single parent (who works 2 or 3 jobs) doesn’t deserve health care because they cannot afford it?
I think the biggest point that I have is that no system will be perfect, but that it is important to take a look (a real, self propelled investigation) at the possibilities and understand the pros and cons of what is being proposed and then decide from there.
Tags: Commentary, health care
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