One of the most troubling aspects of the current effort at health care reform is the narrow self-interest displayed by the "haves" and their seeming disregard of the "have nots". As Jerry Seinfeld said to George, "We're trying to have a civilization here."
The cry of the single payer advocates is germane to a functional civilization, "Everybody in. Nobody out."
As the Washington Post article shows, the self-interest may be largely self-delusion. Ask the erstwhile members of the Anthem Blue Cross "network" how they like their health coverage.
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4 comments:
Being one of the Anthem subscribers, I have to say I am very disappointed with my coverage.
My deductible went from $500.00 to $2500.00 in a single year. My employers had to sign onto this to keep costs down.
Luckily my personal physician is not employed by Norton's. Many people I know have to find a new doctor because of this.
When are people going to wake up? There was a lady at the Farmer's Market Saturday who was a big fan of Rush Limbaugh. She told Carol and I that we were Socialists and Communists! We could not get her to listen to common sense. She sees nothing wrong with these CEO's making 40 X the salary they pay their employees. She said if you work hard you should earn whatever you can. I asked her how these people could pay their workers so little and keep so much for themselves, but she was not fazed. Sad.
"She sees nothing wrong with these CEO's making 40 X the salary they pay their employees. She said if you work hard you should earn whatever you can. I asked her how these people could pay their workers so little and keep so much for themselves, but she was not fazed."
My short answer on how people can think that way, is they lack the necessary components of a soul. They believe that what they have is all that is needed, and that if the general welfare is advanced they must somehow lose.
Take a look around our town and you will see some of those same people holding the city back.
If the notion of society as a zero-sum game is unchallenged and narrow self-interests are allowed to dictate our future, whether here or in the nation, we are in truly sorry shape. If Obama allows his ideas on health care to be supplanted by these narrow interests, he will have failed, and failed to deliver Change We Can Believe In. And then it will be off to the races. Unfortuntely it will be a race to the bottom.
"My short answer on how people can think that way, is they lack the necessary components of a soul."
John, this is the message we need to get to the churches. Just asking the church to show Sicko is not enough anymore. We need to talk to the ministers, try to make them understand. Matthew 25 would make a good sermon or Bible study, but relate it to what we have today. "You gave me healthcare when I had none."
Wouldn't it be great if we could try to get as many churches as possible to share their church's position with their congregations on a certain Sunday. I can't name them all, but some are the Methodist, Unitarian Universalist, Presbyterian, etc.
Linda:
Unfortunately some of the religious denominations you did not mention have already stepped into the political/public policy arena.
The mixture of religion and politics, rather than having the salutary effect of melding the true meaning of Jesus' teachings of love and service into our daily lives, increasingly has the opposite effect of placing a divine stamp of approval on intolerance and greed.
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