Today the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the landmark healthcare bill, the Affordable Care Act. This decision removes any legal obstacles to implementation of the Act, although individual states can decide to decline federal funds and not expand their Medicaid programs. I wrote the following article while Congress was debating passage of the bill:
Although I have been fairly politically active in my life, I don’t plan, as a general rule, to address political issues in this blog. I’ve made that decision because I am sad to see the tremendous political divide in this country today, and the gaps that have opened up between people of good will on each side. I believe a lot of this divide is actually artificial, driven by a media culture that thrives on conflict. When people find common ground, that is not news. When people call each other names, that garners airtime. So broadcasters and talk show hosts fan the flames of dissent.
My life and my work are about celebrating unity, not about supporting division. Having said all that, I’m going to go out on a limb and offer my opinion on the healthcare legislation slated for a vote today in Congress.
I believe it is a tragedy that more than 40 million people in perhaps the richest country on earth do not have access to healthcare. For the most part, these are working people who pay taxes and contribute to our American way of life.
We’ve all heard the stories. A woman friend of mine suffered a serious stroke eight years ago. She was in graduate school, with little income and no health insurance. She was taken to the emergency room and got immediate treatment, but could not afford the intensive rehab she needed. Her recovery has been much slower and more difficult that it would have been had she had the appropriate ongoing care. I have friends whose insurance costs have doubled after an illness. Other friends have had their health insurance terminated. Many people who could afford private health insurance are denied coverage. My own daughter, who is the mother of four children, has no health insurance. It’s simply not within her reach, financially.
Over the years, there have been some milestones. Medicare has undoubtedly saved the lives of many seniors, and Medicaid the lives of many children in low-income families. Children’s Health Insurance Programs in the various states have made health insurance affordable for many more children. But the U.S. continues to trail other developed countries in access to good medical care, and the World Health Organization ranks our healthcare system only 37th in the world.
When uninsured people get sick, they go to hospital emergency rooms, which often charge thousands of dollars for a visit. The patients can’t afford to pay these bills, so they end up being covered by us, the taxpayers. Overall, the cost of healthcare has grown more than 17% in the past year. It is one of the major drains on our beleaguered economy, and we simply cannot fail to act to curb these rising costs.
Most first-world countries provide healthcare through some form of government support, and citizens of those countries are generally pleased with their systems. But the U.S. is a highly individualistic society, and we value and protect entrepreneurship and private enterprise. Accordingly, our insurance companies, healthcare institutions, medical suppliers and drug companies have grown stronger and stronger. Using the carrot and the stick, buying millions of dollars in advertising and using organizational blinds as fronts, as well as contributing millions to legislators, they wield enormous power. Although many people believe some form of government program, such as an expansion of Medicare, or a single-payer program, would be the best option, that simply isn’t going to happen now.
So we’re left with a healthcare proposal that is, without a doubt, an inelegant mess. The old adage says making law is like making sausage, and we’ve all had a front seat view of the meat grinder. It’s not pretty. Still, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reports the proposed legislation will cover 32 million more Americans, bringing the total covered up to 95% of the population, while reducing the deficit $138 billion over the next ten years.
Many of my conservative friends don’t trust the government’s ability to make good healthcare law, and feel Washington should stay out of the process all together. But clearly, that is not working on so many levels, both human and economic. I hear many middle-class people say they are happy with their present healthcare, and they don’t see the need for change. The good news is that this proposed law will not change their coverage. But it will protect them from potentially losing coverage, or having their premiums explode, if they themselves one day experience a serious health condition.
As a society, we have left behind the days of workhouses for debtors and children working 15 hour days in factory sweatshops. Isn’t it time we step into the 21st century, and ensure this most basic of human rights?
Loved it when you wrote it 2 years ago and happy you repeated it!!
Jillian~
Thank you for taking the time to write this article. This subject is no easy topic. The opinions are coming from every direction. It clearly cuts to the core of each of us.
As a spiritual speaker/practitioner/writer I too am struggling with this issue, but as I listened to both sides today after the historical ruling, I have come to the conclusion of disappointment. There are too many questions that are still unanswered that should have bee handled prior: How did the costs of insurance get so out of reach in the first place (why wasn’t this looked at and handled years ago?) Why does the SCOTUS get to decide what I must do (there goes the first of my civil liberties)? Why aren’t my holistic preventative health care measures covered by health care? Why aren’t my holistic emergency health care options covered? Why isn’t anyone acknowledging the basic right to choose what they want for themselves? How come the institutions that created this drama aren’t being examined and handled before we get to this point? And why, oh why, aren’t we able t0 put aside politics to do what is right for all?
I want very much to take care of everyone, including myself. I don’t want to burden anyone with my choice to have or not have insurance. But, I shouldn’t be burdened with having to deal with conglomerates who are after bigger profits without caring at all that I prefer all-natural remedies. When someone allows me to use my insurance for a medical intuitive, nutritional supplements, cranial therapies, IET, EFT, and matrix energetics, then maybe we can talk. We live in a world where synthetic healing rules the day and it rubs my tree hugging, dirt sniffing self the wrong way. Honor all health care choices or please, just let me be. By 2014 I will be the disappointed “owner” of affordable healthcare. Who is measuring what is affordable during this period where unemployment is at an all time high? Who decides what is affordable?
To me mandatory reform of our existing system would have been a perfect answer. To me, taxing the massive agencies that have driven up the cost of insurance should be held accountable. Affordable Health Care, in my mind, is just that- its a plan to make health care affordable. It should not be a tax or a mandate it should be an overhaul of the current system which would then make insurance within reach if any American should so choose. Is it really typical that an aspirin should be billed out at $4 per pill in an ER?
Health insurance should remain my choice. If government wants to help then they can regulate the CEO’s with huge bonuses, reduce the pharmaceutical lobbying in Congress and give acupuncture a go. Let’s have discussions about personal responsibility in public schools. Let’s take entire mornings of exercise and discussion about healthy living and teach our people that our bodies can heal themselves and that healthy living and preventative health matters to our existence. Healthy eating should be a mandatory class from K-12. My list of suggestions is extensive and spurs me to want to create more change!
Jillian~ I love and respect you. Thank you for baring your opinion on this blog and I thank you for allowing comments so that I may do the same.
Warmly,
Tam V
It is important that people get coverage, and yet the system is a mess. Modern medicine is what I call attack medicine. It attacks the system and rarely understands let alone solves the root source of the problems …. often leading to debilitating side-effects while “curing” some symptoms. What to do? My vision is to have L.Ac’s and nurses and other holistic practictioners every so mand square blocks (like in Cuba) with medical care left for surgical interventions only after all nutritional and non invasive methods are used to support health. It works… but pharmaceutical companies tear it down because it would cost them billions of dollars in profit if people wised up.
Tam and Meryl, thanks so much for weighing in on this. I am so happy to exchange ideas with people of all points of view, when we can do so with civility and a real interest in hearing each other. I appreciate you both for that reason!
As I think you both know, I share your ideas about holistic health, and in truth, that’s where many of our personal healthcare dollars go. I don’t think (as I wrote) this is perfect legislation by any means. I’m hoping (and it appears to me this is happening, albeit slowly) a holistic approach to health becomes standard for American doctors, as it already is in many other countries.