{"id":1252,"date":"2009-07-29T06:10:44","date_gmt":"2009-07-29T14:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/?p=1252"},"modified":"2009-07-29T08:09:36","modified_gmt":"2009-07-29T16:09:36","slug":"more-musings-on-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/?p=1252","title":{"rendered":"more musings on health care"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m getting tired of hearing the talking points boiling healthcare<\/span><\/span> down to a “competitive market” vs. a socialist model. \u00a0This\u00a0argument is deeply flawed in two very serious ways:<\/p>\n

#1 “socialist healthcare<\/span><\/span> is evil<\/em>“<\/span><\/h2>\n

Anyone not in favor of a government “socialist” healthcare<\/span> <\/span>plan should never again call 911, the fire department or the police department for help – because it would seem to me highly hypocritical to call the “socialized” police department to find your brother’s killer… but deny someone el<\/span><\/span>se the right (note I said RIGHT<\/strong>, not option if you can afford it<\/em>) to find their brother’s killer if that killer happens to be cancer.<\/p>\n

There are a million ways to make this point. \u00a0Here is another one… Should we let BlackWater<\/span><\/span> fight our wars for us? \u00a0We don’t want a “socialized” military…right?<\/p>\n

#2 “Healthcare<\/span><\/span> now is a competitive market<\/em>“<\/span><\/h2>\n

We hear the “competitive market” argument from every republican spokesman. \u00a0Which apparently means no republican has ever taken a basic economics course (or has forgetten<\/span><\/span> what they’ve learned). \u00a0The healthcare<\/span><\/span> industry is NOT considered a perfectly competitive market by economists. \u00a0It is an oligopoly. \u00a0Now, oligopolies aren’t per se bad, but I imagine the argument wouldn’t sound as nice if Dennis Prager<\/span><\/span> was insisting on keeping his right to an oligopolistic<\/span><\/span> healthcare<\/span><\/span> system. \u00a0Once you start describing healthcare<\/span><\/span> in the same terms (and correct terms) as Ticketmaster and Oil Companies I doubt Joe the Plumber would be signing any “free my healthcare<\/span><\/span>” petitions. \u00a0Would you sign a “keep my ticketmaster<\/span><\/span> ‘service charges’ high” petition? \u00a0Do you HAVE <\/em><\/strong>to buy concert tickets to stay alive?<\/p>\n

To anyone that signed a “free my healthcare<\/span><\/span>” petition, could you explain to me how being locked into your “network” of providers <\/span>is having totally free choice?\u00a0 Imagine if you had to pick what company to get your driver’s licen<\/span><\/span>se from, and then you were limited to driving only Ford and VW (for this example imagine you’re leasing the car, not buying) and only getting gas from BP… even though there is a Chevron next door, and furthermore half the roads your car isn’t allowed to drive on at all.\u00a0 That doesn’t sound like a good example of freedom to me.\u00a0\u00a0 Ask yourself this:\u00a0 why do you have to stay “in network?”\u00a0 Is it for your benefit, or theirs?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

So what are our options here? \u00a0It isn’t “perfectly competitive markets” vs. “socialism.” It is really a restrictive\u00a0oligopoly looking out for stockholders by denying coverage to customers\u00a0vs. a government monopoly giving you a right to healthcare<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0 One places a dollar value on your life and the other a moral value.\u00a0 Which makes it particularly infuriating when I see these “the government will place a dollar value (rationing) on your life!” comments…\u00a0 What do you think the insurance company does, you dolt?!\u00a0 Their number one function (like any corporation) is to increa<\/span><\/span>se the value of their company\/stock.\u00a0 And they don’t do that by spending as much on healthcare <\/span><\/span>as possible, they do it by spending the least amount possible.\u00a0 That means your claim is denied.\u00a0 And then you can’t get coverage with anyone el<\/span><\/span>se because that cancer they found under Kaiser becomes a “pre<\/span><\/span>-existing condition” to Blue Cross.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Imagine if you paid car insurance since you were sixteen and were t-boned at age 67, only to have Allstate (or whomever) drop your coverage and deny the claim.\u00a0 You can’t get coverage from Nationwide to get a new car since the accident already happened.\u00a0 This is how healthcare<\/span><\/span> “should be” to “free market healthcare<\/span><\/span>” proponents.\u00a0 You can stop driving, you can’t stop living.\u00a0 Car insurance is an inadequate metaphor.<\/p>\n

Another point they bring up is the groaning turtle<\/span>-like slowness of government services, the shining example being the post office. \u00a0Mr. Limbaugh, call up\u00a0DHL and see how much they want to ship that birthday card to your mother in 3 days across the country – from your hou<\/span><\/span>se to hers. \u00a0I guarantee<\/span> you it won’t be 44 cents….\u00a0 (oh, wait, DHL went out of business, good thing you don’t need that letter delivered\u00a0to stay alive, eh?)<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that even\u00a0from a business consumer standpoint UPS can’t compete with the post office’s ability to deliver bulk standard mail – I know this because it is my JOB – and we just interviewed UPS again last week. \u00a0They still couldn’t provide better service than the “bungling government socialist system” for our marketing mailings.<\/p>\n

In a modern society healthcare<\/span><\/span> should be a right. \u00a0(oh yes, I said it, am I a “bleeding heart liberal” now?) I find it highly ironic that republicans, who are usually “pro-life”, don’t understand this. \u00a0Apparently a fetus’ life must be protected at all costs (including the life of the mother), but once that fetus is born – F YOU, you’re on your own (unless you’ve got a trust fund, then we’ll talk).<\/p>\n

I think a modern society should protect its citizens from things they have no choice in. \u00a0I didn’t decide to have asthma or allergies. \u00a0Why were my parents (financially)\u00a0punished for something I was born with? \u00a0My mother wasn’t a crack addict, there was nothing she or they did to cause these conditions. \u00a0In fact they were the model<\/span><\/span> (as far as I know) of good prenatal care providers<\/span>.\u00a0 Neither of my parents smoked, had particularly bad diets, were overweight or unemployed.\u00a0 My father was laid off\u00a0at the same time\u00a0they found out I had these ailments.\u00a0 Should he have had to worry (keep in mind this same man served in the air force during Vietnam) about my healthcare<\/span><\/span>?\u00a0 What would have happened if my mother didn’t have a good insurance plan through her work at the hospital?\u00a0 Would I have died from an asthma attack at some point?\u00a0 It happened again when my father’s company tried to deny “coverage” of the cost of my brother’s birth.\u00a0 My father had to threaten to sue them (because thankfully he had the promise in writing) to get the money.\u00a0 Is this something that a working productive member of society like my father should have had to spend his time\/money on?\u00a0<\/p>\n

(dad, if any of these details are wrong please correct in comments)<\/p>\n

Why would a modern society capable of taking care of it’s own people resist such change for the cause of keeping a few CEOs’ bank accounts large?\u00a0\u00a0No other first world country has.\u00a0\u00a0 However, in America, the financial needs of the few outweigh the lives of the many.\u00a0 Also we don’t seem to understand that capitalism is a model for the economy, the markets, not our lives and bodies.<\/p>\n

If Americans on principle were against this sort of thing we wouldn’t have social security, unemployment insurance, police departments, etc. \u00a0 We all accept these things easily because none of them put an existing trillion dollar industry in jeopardy (that’s a lot of money to “donate” to political campaigns by the way). \u00a0With Blue Cross and Kaiser out of the equation I highly doubt we’d have any trouble passing universal healthcare<\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m getting tired of hearing the talking points boiling healthcare down to a “competitive market” vs. a socialist model. \u00a0This\u00a0argument is deeply flawed in two very serious ways: #1 “socialist healthcare is evil“ Anyone not in favor of a government “socialist” healthcare plan should never again call 911, the fire department or the police department […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1252"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1255,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252\/revisions\/1255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.andrewlorenzlong.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}