One more time.

I’ve seen multiple posts this morning mocking people who want the government to run the heath care system, so I’m going to jump in and touch this particular live wire one more time.  Just for fun.  Again with the understanding not necessarily equaling agreement, OK?  Though if you think I want the TSA to come to your house and watch you eat, I’m going to lobby for mental health benefits to be added to whatever plan we wind up with.  Because I’d much rather wipe out all of what’s there and start over, but that ain’t gonna happen.  We’ll have some sort of minimal government scheme soon.  If we really work at it, we can make sure that it costs a lot and doesn’t do anything, like in Massachusetts.  And won’t that be fun?  Nothing I love like a moral victory.

Honestly, I’m way, way more baffled by the folks who hate the idea than the ones who love it, because I’m pretty sure 9/10ths of the motivation is pretty damned easy to grasp: people are afraid.  Health care is very, very, very expensive, and health insurance is very, very, very expensive, and even if you can afford the insurance you run into problems with being able to afford to use it, you run into problems because it has limits, and you run into problems getting it at all in a lot of places.  Given that a single sudden illness can easily undo years worth of work if you’re uninsured, and sometimes accomplish the same thing even if you are insured, I think it’s entirely logical that folks are looking for a safety net.  They aren’t thinking about whether it’s the most efficient thing economically, they aren’t thinking about whether that means the government will be too far up in their personal lives, and they aren’t thinking about whether, in the long run, research and development will suffer.

They’re thinking about what happens if they get sick. 

I’m going to say this one more time, with emphasis: It is entirely rational to fear losing everything you own to a random event.

And until you come up with a better idea than shrugging your shoulders and pointing out that you shouldn’t be poor, then, and a better idea than trying to pretend that health is totally under the control of the individual (in which case, having the TSA watch you eat would make sense, really, wouldn’t it?), and until you come up with a better idea than preaching about how government is bad and then using it to mandate what people buy, and until you come up with a better idea than babbling about free markets while vigorously defending a system that’s anything but, I’m going to go right on understanding the single-payer proponents.  Because misguided as they are, I like that they give a damn.

I recommend you start by working out for yourselves why Medicare = good and government health care for younger people = bad.  I rather suspect it has something to do with vote counts, but don’t let my interpretation get in your way.  If you can explain that one to me, maybe we have a place to start with a market solution, after all.

1. I think my problem with universal healthcare is that there’s no choice.  When these universal plans are touted, all the ones I’ve read have taken choice away from people.  If the government wants to OFFER universal healthcare, let them.  But making it mandatory would be wrong.  People should have the choice to buy their own healthcare.

   Of course, that’ll then create some sort of have-and-have-not system and the government will come in and say “no more private healthcare”.

   I like my private healthcare.  As much a pain in the ass as it is, I like being responsible for myself.  Most people fear that.  (I’m not saying you do—you’re too smart—but the great unwashed, they fear it.)

   Posted by Josh  on  07/31  at  07:31 AM  from  Georgia

2. Yeah, I have to agree with Josh. I get what you’re saying, though, Deb. Having looked at what my hospital bills would have been if not for my insurance made me rethink this issue some. But I agree that it should be an option rather than a mandate. And I’m not excited about the tax increase that will occur to pay for it.

   Posted by jen  on  07/31  at  11:43 AM  from  Northern Virginia

3. Thanks, Josh and Jen, for getting it.  I don’t want mandated universal government coverage...I just want to discuss the issue without viciously mocking people who do.  It seems like we’d get a lot further with dealing with this problem (and whether it’s a problem or not, the general perception seems to be that it is, so it is, iykwim) if we could acknowledge the complexity of the thing, and acknowledge that the other side is not necessarily arguing in bad faith.  Some are, no doubt, but I think most just have a lot more faith in the power of the government to do good than I have ever had.

   I feel very much like I’m between a rock and a hard place, being in the individual market and having a chronic issue or two.  I instinctively think that regulating the industry too closely is counterproductive, and yet I probably wouldn’t be able to purchase insurance at all without that regulation.  So I tend to look at the whole question as being very complex and murky, given that we can’t roll back the clock to 1932 and not elect FDR.  Or even 1963 and keep JFK away from Dallas.  Ideally, we’d have much less government involvement, but practically, I don’t think that’s going to happen, so I’m pretty worried about what they’ll come up with when they do get even more involved.

   I personally think the problem with health care is much deeper than even the financing, but that’s another post for another day.

   Posted by Deb  on  07/31  at  01:00 PM  from  my scary brain
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