Not much more to say on the Presidential race … moving on to the issue of the week …
(By the way, I’m running out of political issues I had listed to discuss – which might make some of you happy – but I thought there might be some suggestions for future topics? Leave in the comments …)
Health care. Primarily, what should the government do about health care in our country?
Well, to begin with, the idea of universal health care is a releatively new concept, much less the idea that health care is a “right.” This doesn’t make it wrong, but anything politicians invent that puts more power in their own hands makes me skeptical. Even the type of health care we have is new. The ease of modern health care has overshadowed prevention. In other words, many are pretty unconcerned and undisciplined about preventative health because modern medicine is fairly effective in treating modern problems that would have completely debilitated or killed people a century ago. That speed of change, while impressive, has its consequences.
Our advances have saved lives, but those same advances have contributed to a drugged culture – the amount of newborns I know that are given for reflux these days is alarming. I don’t know the actual percentage, but it seems like a lot of people in our culture are on some type of prescribed medicine, and that’s happening younger and younger each year. Ironically, most of those prescribed medicines cause physical problems worse than the one they were initially given for. This doesn’t count the number of over-the-counter medications that people consume.
First side note – what type of mixed message does it give our culture, and our children, when we give a pill for every ailment then tell our kids to stay away from ?
Medicine – drugs- might keep you alive but they do not give life.
The other major issue with American health care is the sweet couple of the insurance industry and its partner, frivolous lawsuits. These two have raised the price of health care beyond any bounds of reason.
These are the real issues with health care in our country. Current plans of universal or socialized health care would not address either one. In fact, it would make them worse. Universal health care at this point is like a guy who has an and his injuries are an arm torn off at the elbow and a sprained ankle … and I start treating the sprained ankle while he bleeds to death. There are more pressing issues here.
Living in Korea, to bring an international perspective, I saw a universal health care system that really worked. I liked it. But the Korean culture is very preventative minded and they aren’t able to bring all those lawsuits.
The current ideas for universal health care would be disastrous on a financial level. Socialized health care would necessitate a whole new federal department with offices all over the country to administrate, which not only increases the size of the government but would cause health care to actually cost MORE. A couple poor people might get it for free, but the cost to everyone else would be way higher in taxes. Taxes would have to be raised considerably, again placing more fiscal power in the hands of a government only making it worse.
We could also tie in the failure of the public school system, and its continued failure, as evidence of why the government shouldn’t be put in charge of our health.
And without a strong collective change in our mindset towards prevention, many will be taking advantage of the system … actually discouraging genuine health in a country that is already the fattest one in the world.
I would completely support a universal health care plan if these major issues were addressed, just like I would welcome tending the sprained ankle after managing the bloody stump of an arm. But the drug companies and the lawyers (which is the background of a lot of our elected officials) might be incapable of this.
Another side note – we have to be careful; the preventative industry is highly unregulated and scams abound. There’s some good stuff out there, but a lot of it takes advantage of the same quick-fix culture that is the problem.
A change in lifestyle is the healthiest thing you can do, nothing can substitute for that, and Christians should be the examples here. Unfortunately, many Christians do not have the personal discipline to eat right and exercise, change their lifestyle. It is ironic to see an overweight preacher proudly hail that he doesn’t smoke or drink because his body is the “temple” and then he goes out for Sunday dinner at Golden Corral and eats more than an Indian village could consume in a week.
Christians should be the healthiest people on the planet – they should be truly wise about what they put in their body; righteousness, joy, and peace reduce stress; service burns calories; fasting cleanses the system; whatever major sickness we might have can be supernaturally healed; and dying is a celebration because we are with the Lord. We don’t have this testimony because of our lack of discipline and faith.
Sons and daughters of the King shouldn’t need insurance.
Peace.
Did you see the Bunk study stating 2/3 of doctors in America want National Health Care. The doctors who did this study also conducted one in 2002 and found that the majority of doctors did not want national health care, the problem with this is that the 2 question surveys drastically differ in there 2nd question. I found this article, 60% of Physicians Surveyed Oppose Switching to a National Health Care Plan, It’s worth a read.