Health Care is not simple!!

Hey guys,

I decided today that I need to contribute to the blog. I've been sitting on the side lines too long. "Coach, put me in. I'm ready to play", I yell as I put my helmet on and run onto the proverbial field of Internet blogging. I encourage others who have not posted lately to join me in letting us in on what you've been thinking about, what big has been happening. You can even just make fun of someone. That's always fun.

So here's what I decided to share. Yesterday on NPR I discovered this thing called Intelligence Squared, a program where debates are organized on various topics and three experts are called in for each side of the argument. The audience is able to vote before the debate and after the debate. Also, there are links to Intelligence Squared programs in Britain and Australia. Those are interesting because the topics are really foreign like, Prince Charles was right: modern architecture is still all glass stumps and carbuncles or For a sporting nation we’re not very sporting. There are also ones like, Is Islam compatible with democracy or Are we better off without religion? Look into it if you're bored. It was nice to hear informed differing opinions.

So I read one called Universal health coverage should be the federal government's responsibility. It was really long, 83 pages, but I had nothing to do at work. I don't know after reading the debate if there's a clear "right" option. There seems to be more contradictions and confusion than before. For example,

-Why is it that some people LOVE Canada's health care and think it is the best thing in the world while others claim that it sucks. For instance, the Canadian director of health care when she got Cancer flew down to UCLA to get treatment.
-Is universal coverage to health care a human right that the government needs to guarantee or is quality health care for most people more important?
-Should we first try to fix the system now before going to a "single-payer system" like Canada? For instance, insurance now is not portable (you can not take it with you when you change jobs) and there are no opportunities to shop for insurance that fits you. Some people don't get sick or need medications and don't need really expensive insurance.
- Finally, if the government regulates prices and procedures it will curb the exorbitant prices charged by pharmaceutical companies but there are hard choices that have to be made like do you give the expensive procedure to the 90 yr old guy that will cost $500,000 to give him an extra 2 yrs to live or do you give him Advil and let him die? Technology is creating more and more expensive procedures that will help us live longer.

I'll end the post here. If you have any answers to these questions, comment. You can also comment if this is over your head or you don't care and you really want to talk trash about the corn hull game that Cliff and I won against Dwight and PT Keith.

Have a great day, friends!!