Lately, we've been overwhelmed with the two sides of Clinton's "universal medicine" ideas. I have a retort. There is no right to universal health care.
Health care is an industry, and competitive health care makes sick people get better! Competition challenges physicians to step up their game. For example, a physician will go out and learn about a new surgical technique so they can get more patients and continue to earn a living. If there was no incentive for competition, the quality of health care would fall. I feel that the only reason that I'm of the health that I am is contributed to this competition on at least two occasions. I'll use a personal anecdote: I was born with club foot. The current surgical methods were not working; my foot continued to revert to the "club" position. Because of the hope of competition, a physician in NYC took my case and, when I was seven, drew-up a surgical plan that gave me full mobility and functionality of my foot. 10 brownie points for anyone who looks it up, finds the name of that physician, and leaves a comment. I bet you'll find it. That surgical procedure has helped numerous individuals, myself included, walk. Another surgical procedure that I have greatly benefited from is laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB). For years, the standard of weight loss surgery was gastric by-pass; a VERY risky surgery that results in the patient needing to be on supplements for the rest of their lives, and can often result in a "sugar allergy." Encouraged by competition, LAGB was created to encourage weight-loss, and positive change in life style, and a more patient-friendly alternative to gastric by-pass. Countless patients, myself included, have lost a life-saving amount of weight which has thus cured other "co-morbid condition" such as high blood pressure and diabetes. Competition in medicine provides better treatment for the sick and injured. Univeralized or socialized health care destroys competition and, thus destroys patient care.
Now, don't get me wrong. People deserve quality health care. Quality health care comes from privatized health care. Let's be honest: do you really want a politician to be making decisions about your health care? I don't. I think politicians should let physicians do what they do best: provide quality health care. Then, politicians can find ways to offer the health care sector incentives to provide cheaper, or even free, health care to patients (yes, this is already being done to an extent).
As you just read, my quality of life can be directly attributed to private health care. No, I don't think that poor people shouldn't be taken care of, I just would like to see them be taken care of in a way that doesn't step on the higher-low, middle and upper class. This needs to be a genuine priority, in fact, for everything from healthcare workers and politicians to the public. We need to go about it in the right way, though. Health care is NOT a right. Read the Constitution - rights do not require anything of another party. A right that is yours requires nothing of me, except to not interfere with your right. To call health care a "right" means that we're going to require people to devote their careers to low-quality health care and low salaries, as well as require every citizen to pay high taxes to pay for other people's health care. That is just wrong.
Before you leave nasty comments to this blog, I want you to know where I'm coming from. I believe that everyone should receive quality health care, but I don't believe that it is a right, or that the government should get involved. I am a volunteer EMT. I provide pre-hospital care to the sick and injured for free, because they deserve it... but I choose to do that. They deserve that level of health care because I choose to provide it. It is a service provided by the township, but the amount paid in taxes by residents is far less then if they needed to get a private ambulance. My training is paid for by taxes. My rights are not infringed by this process; I can still make a living during the week, but for the 6-hours-a-week that I'm with my volunteer service, I choose to provide a service.
I will post, later, with how I would solve this problem.
