It is probably unfair to point out that healthcare problems are unseen and unheard of in the frenzy over politics, war and the unhealthy reputation of our leaders among the nations of the world. Yet, without a comprehensive healthcare system to replace the palliative and piecemeal attempts to shore up our failing system, millions of Americans go through agonies of pain because the present system is an elitist one that serves the rich and well-to-do while the vast majority make choices of not to take their medicine so they can afford to eat.
This is not an alarmist diatribe. It is a reflection on the fact that we personally know people who go without dental care and have gaps in their mouths because they cannot afford the dental attention that America boasts is the best in the world. We see ads that promise blazingly white teeth that are cosmetically correct while most people have problems which cause unseen problems and pain.
Teeth are the visible tip of Medicine. People without benefit plans go to Emergency Rooms where taxpayers foot the bills. It is the benefits and how they are manipulated that have trivialized healthcare in America. One cannot simply go to a health provider and get universally the same excellent care for there is a system in place which leaves the patient to choose from among competing insurance companies that, for most, give fast and less than the best care.
Here is a secret: if you are rich you don’t need insurance for health. You just use your wealth and go to a hospital or office where you will not have to fill out form after form and show your membership in some care provider which would, in all probability, deny you your choice of doctors. The best system in the world is actually many systems and they are on a competitive basis and use economical measures to bring down the costs to THEM in the name of profits. I do not think that our medical system in the 21st Century needs to rest on a “for profit” basis.
Just think about the system in place for our Congressional, Executive and Judicial representatives whose election assures them a free, best of the best system of health care. Such thoughts must make you more than wonder. They should make you think that if wealth can by-pass insurance and election to office and get the best system available, then you must think that this system should be made available to ALL Americans and be paid for out of our tax dollars. These dollars are thrown down a rat hole of war. Priority for the best is given to the few while the rest of America is left without. Honest reflection on this problem calls for “reform”. We need action and we need it now – not some time in the future.
Go to the polls and vote for those whose promises make the most sense and will deliver universal health care.