More on the health care debate...

A friend emailed me this morning, saying the person carrying the weapons at the rally is actually African American and may or may not have been "anti-reform" of the system. Fair enough - point taken. There are nuts on all sides of this debate. The idea of carrying such weapons and it being okay is just overwhelming to me. That Arizona still allows such is crazier than the guy with the weapons. I've been to Arizona, pretty conservative no matter what you're color, save the poor latinos who usually look up at our successes from the bottom. They work hard though and I applaud their efforts.

Now to the debate... Look, those lambasting me on email (:-), I know we can't just pay out trillions of dollars. I get it! I do! We all pay taxes and worry about getting taxed more. My biggest suggestion and political impossibility (because they are so rich and can pile on the money to support candidates who back their issues and to pay the lobby machine like no one else, save maybe the NRA who fights everything, even the most sane legislation regarding weapons - another day on the NRA though) is that we create a system that removes the teeth from the monster giant insurance industry. That'll never happen because we don't do anything bold in our system, we compromise it down to watered down milk and make micro moves that are worthless.

Sure, whatever system we do come up with in reforming this broken system will have flaws. Every human system and human administered system does. Sure, if the government is involved it will have problems. You know the problems are self inflicted. We lobby our politicians who then poke holes, make loop holes and hamstring the system created. Example? The military industrial complex - whom we demonize so readily - only produce what congress dictates. And congress dictates the military buy stuff they don't want, need or find useful, but it gets bought and sent because congressmen bring home the bacon and get re-elected. Hmmm.

Now, back to healthcare, again: We need a system that doesn't bleed us dry in insurance payments. Imagine if we were able to achieve the co-op brand like the fellow in NYC (previous post last week)? What if we spent 20% of what we spend now? What if we reigned in litigation - occasionally warranted, but often frivolous rubbish? Maybe we'd only pay 15% instead of the 20% we pay now... Hmmm, from $500-600 in premiums, and another couple of thousand in an ordinary year of co-pays and your share stuff... So we instead of handing out $10,000-$15,000 per anum we handed out $1500-2000? It's still a lot, but wow, I'd love to have the $8,000-12,000 back!

One idea not floated seriously: Pay for medical school for any doctor who graduates and enters the work force, maybe reimbursing his costs over a five year period post graduation. Yep, it'd be expensive, but a fraction of what we end up handing over because of the deferred interest they must pass on to us to repay their costs. We'd actually pay less! What if there was serious tort reform on litigation? Stricter rules on guidelines on when you can sue - good guidelines though?

And the uninsured we don't want to pay for? We pay for them already through taxes and insurance premiums... because rather than preventative care, rather than seeing a doctor in a clinic or office, they go to the ER where it is unbelievably expensive! It does get paid for already by you and me through our taxes. What if we could get them care and it was actually cheaper?

Okay, some facts:
1. Healthcare reform has been political partisan ball for decades!
2. The first reform was attempted by President Harry Truman. The AMA spent $200M in today's money to fight and destroy the reform efforts.
3. In the 1970's President Nixon attempted reform of the system. This time, the liberal democrats derailed it, hoping to take over a mid-term elections and do it themselves so they got the credit. As you know, it obviously didn't work out.
4. In the 1990's the "Harry and Louise" ads derailed President Clinton's attempts at reform.
*Note the bi-partisan effort since WWII to reform a system that was headed for a train wreck!
5. I've read economic reports that say the reason we have fallen behind in education, GNP and exports can be directly related to the enormous amount of money we spend on healthcare - more than any other first world nation, but our life expectancy rates, our medical care, none of it is rated better than several other nations, including Australia, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and so forth...
6. We have 46M people in American who have very little or no access to health care. Therefore they don't go!
7. 18,000 people a year die in the USA from lack of access to healthcare!
8. 60% of all bankruptcies are due to medical bills! 75% of those same bankrupt people have insurance! The economic meltdown due to the mortgage crisis is a pimple on a whale's bottom next to this! It would be safe to say that the medical/insurance crisis in the USA is equally to blame as the demons who created the mortgage mess! Read the above one more time for me!

Whether you call yourself a conservative, a liberal or a cynic of both sides (me!), "Houston, we've got a problem!" This is an issue to fix now! What makes me sick is that there are some (GOP & DNC) who are honestly trying to work on it, but they are villanized by both sides, their own parties, for trying to fix it! The President is trying. I think he made a mistake giving it to the inept congress to do. There are too many personal political agendas and threats from home for them to fix it, devise it, etc. It needs his leadership, with serious consultation of the house and senate - both sides of the aisle.

Personally, I don't think we will get a public system. There are some advantages if we did. France's system is hugely successful. The UK/AUS/NZ systems also have huge merits. I have the experience with them and had none of the restrictive issues so accused. BUT, politics are politics and insurance companies are putting money in the coffers of politicians and they'll get what they want. Democracy, right? The people speak, right? Whatever... Money speaks - those with a lot of it get to speak, period. The people don't get jack.

BUT, back to pragmatics: We can get a co-op system, non-profit organizations like Washington State, New York State, etc... By the size of the need, it would take a little to fund and get up and running, but then they'd become instant powerhouses competing in the market place and beating the insurance companies at their game. Prices would come down because 46M people would have insurance and many of us, ME!, would line up to join as soon as I saw it work! The good ones would survive, the others would not. In many ways, there are advantages a public system doesn't offer... They have to be solvent.

So, in the debate, can we stop lobbying, oops - Freudian slip - lobbing rocks and lies and stop listening to the rhetoric!? Can we begin a serious debate and respect the opposing views of both sides - both have real points of truth, you know!

As saints, can we place our personal interests aside and place Jesus' interests in front. How about we throw away our interests and put Jesus' interests in place of ours? How about removing ourselves from the political wars and become the voice of Christ into a fallen system. Yes, not a better human system we've found to date, so let's work within it, be a voice of critique and conscience, not do the bidding of the power brokers. How about we speak into this situation with reason, taking on the reality that this is a complex situation, complex in every way, and remember there are lives at stake - 18,000 in the next 12 months! That's 1500 lives every month, an average of fifty lives a day!

How about we think collectively as a community, a society and think what's best for us? How about we care for those who dry cleaned our shirt, repaired our car, made our latte, check out our groceries, cut our lawns, repaired our window? We are so blessed, like never before in history! We are sooooo blessed. Now, let us bless! Will not God honor a generous people who are reflections of Him? Do we not trust the judge of all mankind to take care of us? Do we really need to build bigger barns to store away for the future and not live Kingdom minded? I have a story Jesus told on this if you want it.

May we have hearts that break for others, may we be people of peace, may we bless, may we prophetically speak into the political partisan wars and not puppet Al Sharpton or Rush Limbaugh. May we be those sitting at the gate judging and weighing and speaking hope. May we respect those on both sides. May we remember the weak. May we remind the rich and powerful. May we be generous in every way and receive generously. May we pray for congress and the President on this issue and ask the Spirit to guide and lead us to practical real change that blesses the nation and therefore, the world.