....NOT! 

I saw a humorous YouTube video which led me down an interesting path of reflection and reinforced the extremes in thinking some people have on healthcare in America.   Healthcare is a complicated social issue, and to the best of my knowledge there is only one only perfect solution.  And that's  perfect health.

I've included the video here as it is humorous, but I present it with a large caveat.  Health insurance in America is indeed less than perfect.  It is kind of like owning a used car.  Most of the time it works and gets us where we need to go.  It might have a few accessories like power locks and windows that provide us with some creature comforts, but overall it's just not that pretty.  Sometimes it breaks down and unexpectedly costs us more than we have on hand expect to make it work which can be frustrating but not devastating.  And on rare occasion something major happens and the clunker leaves us high and dry, in the middle of some barren desert, without a chance of survival.

This video, if viewed in a vacuum suggests that health insurance companies are the cause of the problem, spawn of the Devil, the root of all evil (and healthcare problems).  The creators of the video would like us to buy into this premise and then blindly accept their healthcare dogma.

....But the video is funny.  Just take it with block of salt.

After watching the video I followed the link and landed on the Health Care for America Now website.  I felt compelled to read their story, which at an ideal level has some merit (qualitiy, affordable healthcare for all Americans), but at a practical level takes the incredibly arrogant, and naïve position that they are right and anyone who disagrees with them is wrong.  Their truth is a manipulated and contradictory truth at best.

Remember the video?  The one above that makes insurance companies to be the spawn of the Devil, if not the Devil himself?  Health Care For America disdains insurance companies, yet they basically suggest that if you are satisfied with your insurance you can keep it.  That suggests to me that they have either overstated their cause "insurance is not affordable for families...etc." or their true agenda is something else.

This organization states:

"Our government's responsibility is to guarantee quality affordable health care for everyone in America and it must play a central role in regulating, financing, and providing health coverage by establishing:...."

Aha, their agenda....

The thing that really annoys me about this organization is not their desire to improve healthcare for all Americans, but their suggestion that this is a problem for which the bulk of the responsibility for fixing it falls to the Government.  I love it that they are trying to expose social injustice and health issues, but it really frosts my gonads that they fail to suggest that Americans themselves are part of the problem.  That State and The Federal Government are part of the problem.  That healthcare practitioners are part of the problem.  That attorneys are part of the problem.  That big business is part of the problem.  The list goes on, and we nibbled around the edges of this a few days back in our article "The Unscientific Top Ten..."  Yet the face they put on it is one of insurance company greed; part of the problem for sure, but a small part of the problem.

 Government owned, run, and mandated insurance is a slippery slope.  In the end, if the Government is true to form, like that old used care, it will leave us broke and disheartened. 

What frightens me about Health Care For America Now is their proposal rings of the entitlement bell shrouded in the guise of a right.  Unfortunately, rights are entitlements the minds of many.  If healthcare is a right, then it needs to come with an enormous amount of personal responsibility, accountability and some level of sacrifice.  We need to take care of each other.  If we believe  the Government cares a rats about us, I believe we are sorely misguided.

We should treat healthcare must be treated as a privilege for there are people in this world far less fortunate than us who drink dirty water and live in homes with dirt floors and minimal shelter.  Our focus should be on health first and then on healthcare.  For more thoughts on this please read, "Mountains Part Deux."

I think the solutions to our healthcare challenges need to be more collaborative.  I believe organizations like the Healthiest Nation Alliance are healthier at their roots than say Health Care For America. We've shown this video before, but it is worth another look. 

If you have read this far, then you are thinking.  That's good.  Now think a little more about how you can change the world.  Too big?  Then think about how you can change your world or maybe your child's world.  Start with your own health and you will be on your way to better, more affordable healthcare.