I'm quite fond of Rev. Adam Hamilton and I find his claim that justice - and for those who believe it, the God of justice - demands that all be cared for to be undeniable. No decent human being can deny this.
The Other fellow seems to have no argument at all. He simply repeats lame and false claims about "big government" and "paid abortions" and other nonsense. I really wish that one of these "anti-health reform" folks would for once actually consider the facts, offer a real argument, or provide at least some accurate data!
The weakest aspect of the argument offered by Lou Dobbs and by Hamilton's opponent is a failure to distinguish between the quality of care provided by the United States top notch doctors and hospitals as opposed to the lack of coverage provided for millions of Americans.
The argument is that America has the best health care because we have the best doctors, so why change it? We do have great doctors and wonderful hospitals. But the argument here completely misses the point. The Problem with our health care system is not the skill of our doctors, but the fact that millions of people don't have health insurance, or have health insurance that denies their claims. The issue is NOT the quality of care, but the lack of coverage.
Finally, the idea that health care must be rationed if it is extended to all and sundry, is absurd. Some countries, most notoriously Canada, have long waits. But many others countries (check out Japan, France, and Germany) have wait times as short as ours but still have universal health care coverage that costs less than ours.
I couldn't agree more! Living in Germany, I can say from experience that no one is denied treatment here, so Mr. Dobbs' statement that he wouldn't be alive if there were universal health care certainly isn't true here. And as you mentioned in your post, there certainly are no long waiting times for treatments or diagnostic procedures if they're urgent. Of course, if I need an MRI for my knee that's been hurting for months before I went to see a doctor and on which I still can walk without much trouble, I might have to wait a week or two, but if there's even the slightest hint that it might be an urgent matter, I can get that MRI within a day or two.
ReplyDeleteEven in our pretty good health care system there are a few things that could use a reform or two. For example the numerous health insurance companies which each have their large and shiny administration buildings and an army of highly qualified administration people, their monthly journals and everything such a company might or might not need. It all costs a lot of money, which could be put to better use if there were only one national company like in the UK.
I guess what people in the US, but also in other countries (Germany among them) have to learn is that health care cannot be about profit.