NavyDoc
I wish I could view our healthcare system in such an optimistic and idealistic light; but the cruel and ugly side just keeps staring me in the face.
We definitely have the potential to have the greatest healthcare system in the world, but we sure don't have it now, and we won't have it as long as
we put profit (and greed) before the health and best interests of the people. I'm not trying to single you out, because I know you express the
thoughts of many; but you enumerated your thoughts so well, and it's an issue dear to my heart, so I wanted to respond to you.
"We do have first world healthcare--the most advanced in the world with the majority of new procedures, medications, equipment in the world being
developed here...."
Yes, indeed we do... the best procedures, medications and equipment that will make the patent holders the greatest amount of profit. Too often, the
initial investment for research and development was made by the taxpayers, and yet due to ridiculous patent laws, we are then gouged by the
corporations granted the license. In the meantime, not only are natural, less invasive and SAFER procedures neglected due to the lack of profit
potential (due to not being patentable), they are often hidden, misrepresented, attacked and otherwise undermined by corporate and government parties.
Never mind that the side effects and complications can be far more dangerous to us as well. As a direct result, too often the medical care available
to use is not actually our best option -- but is too often the only option offered and sanctioned by the PTB. That's far from the best we can do.
"We are the source of all that for the rest of the world....."
... Who pay considerably less for the same procedures, medications and equipment, and again in large part because of ridiculous patent laws which
apply only to us, passed by congress critters who put their campaign coffers before our health, for major donors who put their bank coffers before our
health. This is shameful.
"There is nothing wrong with our healthcare..."
I so wish this were true, but it's not; medical malpractice would not be the
#3 cause of death in this country
(some say #1) if there were nothing wrong with our healthcare.... see above.
"...the issue is who pays for it...."
That's just one of my issues in regards to health care, obviously.
"People want to sue for millions is the slightest thing goes wrong--but they don't want to pay for the cost litigations causes...."
Apparently litigation would only account for 1.5% of our healthcare costs; given that medical malpractice is the #3 cause of death, and no doubt even
more people are injured (but not killed), I'd say that's a pittance. It should probably be much higher for valid claims alone, but does not happen
because the insurance companies defending any malpractice suits are much too well armed against the average Joe, and consequently few attorneys will
take on such cases.
"People want drugs to be perfectly safe and work perfectly..."
It's not that simple. People want medications that heal & promote health -- including nutritional and herbal supplements -- that offer greater
benefits than risks, and which are fairly priced.
"--but they don't want to pay for the billions of dollars it takes to get new drugs to market...."
We already do pay billions of dollars to get new drugs to market. We pay thru government grants for research and development. We pay thru student
grants and student loans for medical personnel (that are too often never paid back). We pay thru the government agencies that oversee drug
production. We pay thru astronomical markups by Big Pharma. We pay thru side effects and complications that range from merely uncomfortable or
inconvenient to life-threatening and even fatal. We pay thru the increased insurance costs (for those lucky enough to still have insurance... much
less a prescription coverage plan). We pay by giving voluntarily of our hard-earned dollars to charities and causes. We pay. And yet too many of us
are then priced out of reaping the benefits. It seems to me that those who are getting the drugs are the ones who are happy to take from those less
fortunate for their own good health and fortune. Health re-distribution. Shameful.
"People want to be able to smoke, drink, do drugs, eat crap, not exercise but don't want to foot the bill for all of the health consequences of
their poor choices...."
We'll talk about footing the bill for poor choices when corporations stop polluting our air, ground and water with their toxic chemical waste
(including flouride)... when our drinking water is no longer tainted with the pharmaceuticals of others... when the animals we eat -- and therefore,
us -- are no longer poisoned with hormones, antibiotics, GMOs, and other harmful substances that compromise our health all day every day... add to
that list artificial sweeteners and fats, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, artificial dyes, chemical preservatives, etc. We'll
also talk about what exactly constitutes "poor choices" when the PTB stop making such huge mistakes and giving us such poor medical advice that have
such serious consequences for our health.
"People vote for feel good government coverage and laws that force hospitals to treat the poor and indigent and illegals but complain when the cost
for that coverage is reflected on their personal bill..... People want a lot of things but they want someone else to pay for it. The something for
nothing attitude is the root of many of our social ills."
Divide-and-conquer. Pit us against one another. Keep us fighting each other instead of fighting the PTB. Blaming our fellow Americans first is not
the solution. We are not the problem. We are the weakest chain in the link, the ones with the least amount of money, power or control. Please
don't give a free pass to those who do have the power, the control... and the MONEY. Greed and power has turned what could be our greatest triumph
(the greatest health care system in the world that provides EVERYONE the best health care in the world) into a grotesque medical experiment gone
horribly wrong. Americans have tried to do the right thing. It's shameful just how much every taxpaying American pays to make sure that a good
number of other Americans have the best healthcare, but not every tax-paying American can afford our grossly over-inflated health care costs.
Health re-distribution is even more reprehensible than wealth distribution. Money is meant to circulate, i.e., be re-distributed... health is not.
We can do better.