August 16, 2009
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Healthcare debate
One of my relatives came for a visit. He's retired and lives in the US and has been a citizen there for decades. As we were chatting, the topic of healthcare came up. I was astounded by what he said. He is convinced that once he reaches a certain age, he'll be denied health care and be offered the cheapest possible alternative. Some bureaucrat will tell him, "you've lived a long life - maybe you should consider less costly alternatives". He cites cost efficiency charts that he has seen and the age when coverage becomes less profitable.
He kept going on with mind numbing statements. This guy has a Masters and can't seem to discern facts and fiction because this has gotten so emotional. I'm not close to the US healthcare debate nor do I want to. But when I see the heated rhetoric and fear mongering that goes on, I wonder what the future will bring. Moderate Americans looking at all the anger at "town hall" meetings must wonder what they should be doing. With positions so entrenched, will there ever be an intelligent, fact based discussion or debate? Have debates degenerated into who shouts the loudest?
As an outsider looking in, I don't know what to make of this. Is this freedom of speech? Or is it pure politics? But more importantly, will America be able to survive and come out of this intact? I wish you all well in your difficult journey.
Back to regular blogging soon...
Comments (16)
Sadly, it's very easy to derail complex proposals with soundbites. Just let Sarah Palin snipe about death panels and right wing fear mongers ranging from Rush Limbaugh to Fox News go on and on about how this will affect Medicare recipients and you get a highly influential, entitled and numerous group of elderly voters (most of them white) with lots of time to harass their representatives. Again this is just their "gut" speaking as most people seem to be too lazy to get informed (I mean, who bothers to listen to the other side's arguments when the de facto attitude is "they are biased"?) and making a rational choice.
Come to think about it this is how the immigration reform also got derailed. Ugh.
Politics. Easy as pie. Intelligent discourse ended right around when "The Hills" began airing.
so you're saying that this isn't a "regular blog"?
hm... what's considered an irregular blog entry?
sad.
can't seem to see any possible solution anywhere.
i bet most decisions are emotionally based than rational
the people in power in US has perhaps mastered the skill of manipulating the crowd?
i don't know.. even that statement seems to be cliche.
I was wondering when someone not from the USA would raise the question of health care. I do know that there are millions who have no health care coverage at all and that issue needs to be addressed. I have had health coverage from some of my employers and while decent it was not very good. I end up buying supplemental health insurance. When I became old enough for Medicare/Medicade I thought the problem was solved. However, anyone on those programs does pay a monthly premium which is usually taken out of our monthly money received from social security. I also learned quickly that the supplemental coverage I had was also necessary now. I don't know the solution to the problem. I do know there needs to be affordable and decent coverage for everyone.
The protest, I feel, are political motivated. The are too well organized to be spontaneous. And the ads against the health care reforms are founded in fear and false statements. Politics and emotions join to make terrible partners.
Ugh. We need all the well wishes we can get. Fuck Sarah Palin and her death panels!
@TheLatinObserver - true - I think people will watch and listen to what they want to hear rather than objectively looking at facts. You have to test your own theories and perceptions every so often to see if they need to change.
@upandoutward - lol... please tell me there's hope out there.
@tomatoboi - well, I don't venture into politics but this one struck a nerve.
@ZenPaper - I have to agree with you - emotion and fear seems to be what I'm seeing.
@Fatcat723 - politics and emotions do indeed make a toxic combination. It's almost watching mobs with pitchforks and torches out there.
@CareyGLY - I hope you folks can survive this debate that is now mired with hate, anger and fear. I think I'm gonna play your last video over and over again to put myself back in a good mood.
It's partisan politicians manipulating stupid people to the point that the stupid people have no idea what the hell is going on. I blame neither Republicans nor Democrats- I blame the idiotic american public that refuses to think for themselves. This isn't to say Americans are on average more stupid than other people; just that the parrticular political atmosphere of today is really playing up morons. Bleh.
It's become highly emotional and very political. There's a lot of misinformation flying about and although I usually love all things political, I find myself very turned off from this whole debate. It's hard to get true information about the plan and I feel like I'm being bombarded with so much different information that I'm almost feeling like maybe I should just get myself to the hospital now
Hmm,, and who would have the best health care available? And paid for by the good people of this country? Our leaders and their families.. go figure.Ugh,,,
*~matthew~*
Being afraid of it is one thing.... what actually happens though? Hopefully with pensions and savings, there will be enough for the elderly to pay for medical expenses.
@secade - somewhere in the mix are the media outlets who are either left or right leaning ... sigh.
@TheCheshireGrins - thank goodness I don't have to deal with this everyday.
@bleuzeus - sigh... yep.
@mmmagination - a lot of the end of life treatments can be outrageously expensive. Sadly a lot of the illnesses are also now caused by obesity which in theory can be prevented.
"Will America be able to survive and come out of this intact?" Ha ha... that sounds like one of the pundits' comments, full over overblown hyperbole. What was the special session on CNN the other night called, "Health Care Town Hall Raw" or something like that?
What's happening here/there isn't that surprising. Health care is an incredibly complex subject with lots of different factors and opinions about what and whom should be covered. Even without the blowhards oversimplifying everything to snippets and soundbytes, it would be very hard to have a calm, cool and rational discussion on the topic.
My suspicion is that over the next few weeks, some of the air will clear and there will be greater education about what the facts of the matter are. From there, we can have a more productive discussion and debate of ideas. Eventually, some sort of reform will emerge. It will be messy and it won't achieve everything I'd like to see it achieve, but it will be a bit of a step forward. We can build on that first step after it has been taken.
Thanks for giving a non-US perspective to this subject.
@christao408 - I guess I just see people being more and more divided - sort of like feuds in families that take eons to heal.
It has to do with the hungry hospitals and the Insurance companies and the lobbyists. I think there needs to be a reform in the health care, and I think that America will find a hopefully happy middle place where people will be happy.
@ZSA_MD - I hope folks will move out of their entrenched positions; maybe that happy middle place does exist somewhere.