Is universal healthcare a right? And if not, how else can we think about it, let alone justify it?
Is the adversarial model, associated with the state of nature and the subsequent transition from asocial to social arrangements, still applicable once we move to consider civil societies? More importantly, perhaps, can we extend the notion of compromise, and that of “taking an insurance policy,” to cover the manner in which most of the human rights have been won? Can we construe other rights and social gains on analogy with how the basic rights, such as the right to life and property, have been secured in the course of the aforementioned transition? Is the model still applicable once we’re past that transition?…
Article comments
176 - Irene Wagner
I've got to check out for awhile.
177 - Silas Kain
We citizens of the United States (I choose not to use 'Americans' as Canadians and Mexicans ARE Americans) need to lighten up. We have a propensity to make things a heck of a lot more complicated than they need to be. And, again, this is a direct result of a Congress that has spun completely out of control in the last 50 years as they sealed the deal with lobbyists and special interests.
Let me be quite specific on what I think we need to do about health care:
Education - There are many individuals out there who dreamed of being physicians but could not come up with the financing to get the 'education' they needed. So they became the lower rung of the medical food chain ladder. They are nurses, nusrses' aides, physicians' assistants and even phlebotomists.
In my 12 plus years of chronic illness I met many in those fields who I respected for their opinions before the actual physician. These individuals deserved to by doctors. Were it not for these medical professionals who are grossly underpaid and overworked I would not be standing here today completely recovered. Yes, my doctors had their role influencing my course of treatments; however, it was the nurse and the physician's assistant that got me where I needed to be. They are the models of what health care should be and are the forgotten amino acids in health care DNA.
We need to insure that any person who has a deep desire to practice medicine and exhibits a talent in the same gets it. Sure there are school loans available but there has got to be a mechanism whereby college educations cost less especially in the so-called Ivy League schools, etc.
When a place like Brown University gets accolades in the press for all their work, I laugh. Let us not forget that Brown University was built on profits from the Brown family, the leading slave trading family in Rhode Island before the Civil War. Many of the dollars with which that institution was started was earned on the blood, sweat and tears of Africans shipped into the colonies to be subservient to the white imperialist. I know it's off the beaten path a bit, but it is a point that must be made.
Medical licenses should be renewable predicated upon a continuing education paradigm for doctors. Graduating from medical school and serving an internship does not a doctor make. And no candidate for a license should be given one unless they complete a course of testing that places the practice of general medicine at its core. Specialization should only come in long after graduation and internship. Just because a candidate studies plastic surgery doesn't make him/her a custom butcher.
Tort Reform - While frivolous lawsuits may be few and far between, it does not take away from the fact that there are many awards out there that are just way over the top. If patients are well informed before a procedure it should be the patient who takes personal responsibility. The only exception to that would be when there is a clear case of negligence on the part of the practitioner. And in the event of gross negligence, there should be a criminal penalty associated with the civil action, period. Unfortunately, we fail to realize that a comprehensive overhaul of our health care system requires the same for lawyers AND insurance companies.
Preventative Education Again, we are a reactionary society. We eat junk, our bodies become junk. WalMart sells cheap and the nutrition value of the snack foods, beverages and other processed foods has a direct effect on our health. Michelle Obama tried to get the message across with the planting of the garden. Main stream media looks at the "cute" side of a story and consistently fails to deliver the ultimate message. In my mind it is complete disrespect for Michelle Obama, the woman. They are just enamored by her style of being First Lady and in her glow they have completely lost sight of her message.
Pharmaceuticals Not last, and certainly not least, is the focus of the globe's pharmaceutical companies. The successful performers on Wall Street are the ones who manufacture creams for thicker eye lashes, breast implants and age reducing drugs & creams. Forget about gay marriage, the evolution of the pharmaceutical industry as a key player on the global economic stage is immoral. These corporate power mongers aren't in it for humanity, they want cash, period.
Case in point I am aware of a drug that shows incredible promise in putting a certain chronic disease into remission. The reason why this drug can't even get out of animal trials is that it is projected to be too cheap to manufacture. How screwed up is that? A drug that shows promise in the treatment of a chronic illness/disease will never be developed because the pharmaceutical companies won't make a killing. That's warped. That's immoral. And, in the United States, there should be an outrage.
That's it. Simple and to the point. A restructuring of the health care system has to be wholesale not customized to make a certain sector of the economy happy. And how do we fund such a project? Well, take a lesson from history. The defeat of Mexican cartels and the bootleg Mexican economy was the repeal of Prohibition. Legalize pot. Let's get some of the nation's farms producing hemp for medicine, cosmetics, cooking, fuel and fiber. Ladies and gentlemen, there's more money for the pharmaceuticals as long as pot is illegal.
Remember the ending of The American President when Michael Douglas' character gave that impassioned speech about the direction of his Administration and the country? That's exactly where we are at. Only the facilitators of change must be the individual from a rural hollow in West Virginia; the liberal trust fund baby at Harvard; the laid off auto worker from Detroit; and to the drag queen in San Francisco. Regardless of our religion, race or sexual identity we have a common bond. We are citizens in this great political experiment called the United States. Obama can't accomplish a damn thing unless he gets a solid message from the people. This is a grass roots effort. IF you don't want to get involved, so be it. Stop your bitching and move to another country. This isn't time for complacency.
We now return to special programming. The deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett garner more interest than the future of the Republic.
178 - roger nowosielski
Silas,
You are a character. I know you're on BC radio, but have you considered it as a career, your own show?
179 - Silas Kain
Haven't been on BlogTalk radio in a while, need to schedule it in, Roger. My schedule has been nuts lately trying to get our business to the next level. By the fall I want to be doing an hour long talk show once a week to coincide with another project we are working on. I'm really hot on next year's elections because the 2010 election will define not only the Obama Presidency but the direction we choose to drive this country. We have more at stake in these elections than ever in our history and we don't even realize it.
180 - roger nowosielski
If you have a good speaking voice, you should try a wider reaching market. Democracy Now! perhaps.
You've got the ideas. They need to be heard.
181 - Silas Kain
I've called Dave Nalle's show and I think one other. I think I have a half way decent voice. It lacks the grit of Limbaugh but exceeds with the resolve of Reagan.
182 - Jeannie Danna
Silas #177 just said it all!
If only people would listen!
*First lady Michele Obama is trying to bring nutrition back to the school lunch program; this is the same school lunch program that lowered it's nutritional standards during the Reagan administration...
183 - Jeannie Danna
Dave Nalle has a radio show? When? I would like to call...
184 - roger nowosielski
Just sent it to you, Jeannie: "And I Will Remain."
185 - Jeannie Danna
Yes! I just replied..