The Health-care Debate

I haven't heard many comments about my blog lately...probably because no one's reading it... So it seems as safe a time as any to share a bit of unbridled commentary.

I recently listened to a conversation about the current health-care debate. I was struck by the extreme difference of opinion. I was also taken by how quickly the tone of the argument escalated.

People who generally agree about many things can find themselves on opposite ends of this discussion and passionately so. It's been kinda nice for me to sort of sit this one out. Too often, I find myself overly invested and overly vocal about things like this. (You know, things over-which we have little or no control.) But not here. I mostly couldn't care less about whether or not the health-care system gets nationalized. It's not because I don't care about health, it's just that my expectations are so catastrophically cynical and small that it's hard for me to imagine it making that much difference one way or another.

My reasoning has nothing to do with socialized medicine. Clearly more people will get more care if it's free. I am just not sure that this is really a good thing... I must be wrong...but it seems to me that the medical industry creates more suffering than it relieves... I feel for everyone who suffers under it.

Here is what I mean...but in reverse, back-masked order:

Everyone suffers. I learned this in college. It was one of those epiphanies in my educational and spiritual journey. Suffering is part and parcel to life in this world... Of course, some people suffer more than others. But nobody misses out. Everyone has to carry or endure various crosses in this lifetime. This is not to say that we shouldn't try to alleviate the hurt. It is rather to stop ignoring some of the less obvious ways in which people suffer in this world.

So here is the deal: Of course, sick people suffer. And, of course, people who cannot get adequate health-care suffer. But so do people who sort of imagine that the health-care that they have is something great. These people are suffering and they don't even know it. Maybe not from a physical ailment but from a profound condition of self-deception. Do you ever hear people say things like: We have the best health care system in the world These are also the people who like to say things like America is the greatest country in the world... Both might actually be true but how would they know?

Consider the very phrase "adequate health-care." In the current debate we hear a lot about the need for this. But what exactly does it mean? What is adequate health-care? A recent article suggests that $210 Billion is wasted annually on unnecessary tests. This, it seems to me, is a central interest in the debate--what's the best way to ensure that more people will have access to this unnecessary testing?

Maybe adequate health-care is less about access and more about actually helping people get whatever it is that they really need. Again, some suffer because they do not have enough; others suffer because what they have is not nearly as valuable as they imagine.

Why I don't like the medical industry...
1. It's ridiculously expensive: For all the money we throw at health-care, how healthy are we, really? Or, how much is what we've got really worth? From my peculiar spot in the universe, it seems to me that a grapefruit is more valuable than a visit to the doctor. (This is not really the doctor's fault.)
2. It's consistently bureaucratic: More than anything else, medicine is characterized by waiting, processing and disappointment. (This is not really the receptionists fault.)
3. It's dehumanizing: Dealing with the medical industry makes people feel worse. Whether it is suffering the indignity of various procedures or the arrogance of the experts, the overwhelming experience of the sick is a consistent reminder that they have little or no power of the situation. (This is not really the nurse's fault.)
4. It's arrogant: People in medicine too often carry themselves with an unjustified sense of greatness. (This probably is the University's fault.)
5. It's run by insurance companies... (This is definitely our fault.)

If we could only find a way to remove this last bit from the current debate. But... So whether we move to a more nationalized system or keep something similar to what we have now, medicine will still be determined and driven by people very far from the clinic. And here too, I feel for those who have as much as I do for those who have not. Even doctors are beholden to powers that are not primarily interested in health.

Thank God nobody reads this thing...