Universal Health Care: The Debate Rages On
Opponents of Universal Health Care programs are quick to site numerous problems with socialized medicine as they occur in national systems in other countries. They are against such a plan because, as they say, other countries have multiple flaws in their programs, including limited access to expensive tests like MRIs, long waiting periods for surgeries, and delay of care until conditions are too far advanced for treatment.
Immigrants who have participated in such health care, however, often tell a different story, especially after they experience the high cost of American medicine. A German immigrant recently spoke to us on this very issue. He acknowledged that they paid much higher taxes in Germany, but insisted that they had no problem getting whatever healthcare was needed. The French have similar claims, admitting that they get a lower salary as employers of a certain size are required to contribute to the national health care system, but they claim that the care they need is readily available.
The debate rages on, but the real argument is not whether we need “better” health care in America. We need more accessible health care at a more reasonable cost. The two issues are not even remotely similar. In contrast to most of Europe, American health care is nothing more than a practice in treating symptoms of diseases. There is little attempt to actually cure anything, and there is certainly even less of an emphasis on prevention of disease in the first place.
Instead of focusing only on the pros and cons of a national health care system itself, we need to completely revise our attitudes and practices toward good health. Simply funding a massive nationwide program that will keep paying the out of control prices on prescription drugs and the inflated charges to hospitals and clinics will do nothing more than finalize the road to bankruptcy, down which America seems to be headed.
To demonstrate the need for change, consider the following:
- America has the highest rate of chronic diseases, second only to Australia;
- The most rapidly growing disease among children in America is cancer;
- Obesity and diabetes are at epidemic levels among the nation’s young people;
- The healthiest—and smallest—segment of America is the senior population, particularly those who take no prescription drugs;
- The recommended levels of cholesterol were arrived at by the drug companies, not by physicians or any real medical results of patients;
- For the first time in history, American young people are dying before their much older parents and grandparents;
- Every chronic ailment among American patients could be radically reduced in numbers with a change in diet, exercise, or with the removal of toxins from our homes, environments or food products.
In short, other countries have health care models that could work in America, but unless the overall approach to health and wellness undergoes a radical change—beginning with the medical schools—any attempt to imitate a European system will do little more than bankrupt the country.
