So the other day I was sitting at lunch with my co-workers and they were talking about stuff I am really not well versed in: politics. One of the things that someone said (I am paraphrasing here) was that they were unsure about whether or not a healthcare plan by the government in which everyone has coverage is a bad thing (some people would think that this statement makes no sense, but follow me). The jist of what he was saying was that he believes in helping people and wants people to be healthy so maybe it would be a good thing if the government ensured that everyone had health care.
Here is where the “off the cuff” portion of my post title comes from, my response to his comment just popped into my head so I said it. It had nothing to do with the cost of such a type of plan and how that would affect my taxes or anything else that would seem obvious, my comment was something along the following lines: “If we had a system in which everyone had healthcare which was paid by the tax dollars of people who don’t necessarily want to help pay for the healthcare of others then does that really help us as a society? I mean sure, the people getting healthcare benefit but the hearts of the people are still unchanged. We need to change the minds and hearts of the people rather than rip the money from their tightly gripped hands.”
So my question is with respect to the long term. Is it better to force change onto an unwilling people so that a portion of society will benefit or is it better to wait for those people to want to make the change themselves? Both seem to have draw backs and benefits. My only hope would be that people can think about this from a perspective that is outside of yourself.
November 3, 2008 at 8:13 am
just a thought here….. the US is one of the only 1st world countries without socialized healthcare available to all. our teammates from Australia and the UK love the healthcare they receive from their respective countries and don’t understand why Americans are so afraid of having socialized healthcare. In Britian and Australia No one ever goes bankrupt or loses their home because they end up with cancer and can’t afford the treatment they need to get better.
2nd, i don’t think you should or can force people to change, especially their hearts. But as a follower of Christ I believe I am called to stand up for the poor and therefore I think healthcare available to all and paid for by those who can afford it through taxes is a good idea. of course, even if the best idea is executed poorly, it still won’t work. That would be the challenge of switching and changing the heathcare system in the US. Until then, I have extremely high healthcare premiums even though i barely use the system since I live overseas.
off the cuff,
Heather
November 5, 2008 at 5:03 am
Neither. I think you’re right about people’s heart. However we can’t wait around till things “change”. I believe the whole issue has to be addressed differently. Just a thought. And sometimes we need to be made to do something before we understand or comply with the Why we have to do it. I can think of tons of examples but here is one… let the slaves go free— because its right doesn’t matter if you agree with it. Glad we didn’t wait for a whole nation to get on board with that one!
November 7, 2008 at 5:29 am
I agree with jen that its not an either or situation. Obviously we want changed hearts but the purpose of government is to organize society and in a sense force people to do things they wouldn’t normally do but are for the betterment of all. In the case of healthcare I am all for socialized medicine. It would be better if the poor were cared for by others out of the goodness of there heart but the reality is that we live in a country where hospitals dump sick homeless patients back on the streets without treating them.
The biggest concern I’ve heard is that we will get bad health care if its socialized, but my friends in Australia mentioned that while there is socialized medicine its still a dual system. There are private doctors and hospitals and private insurance all available to those who want to pay for it.
The second big concern I hear about socialized medicine is that there will be too much bureaucracy. To be quite frank I can’t imagine having more bureaucracy than we have now. Our private and “efficient” system is pretty “inefficient” in my opinion. Also private medicine is in theory supposed to be cheaper because of competition, but again because there are so many uninsured, we pay sky high premiums. so it ends up being more expensive.