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New research shows that the past few months of debate (often more like shouting) over the reform of the health insurance process has actually worsened our nation’s already-fragile health. I should probably disclaim what I just wrote and what I’m about to write by saying that this research was conducted by me.
Let’s put some basics out there, things that we know for sure and that we can’t argue with because they’re statistics, and statistics (unlike statisticians) don’t lie, unless they are paid:
1. We know that something like 1/3 of Americans are obese. This is a multispectrum problem, of course, related to environmental, cultural, and other factors. Obesity causes lots of other health problems that only get worse with age. It’s like a time bomb.
2. We know that if we do nothing, if we stand by and let the status quo of health insurance be, health care will absorb near 50% of our GDP by 2050. Premiums for families will be something outrageous like $20,000/annum.
3. We know that the United States lags behind every other industrialized nation in providing for its citizens. Our infant and maternal mortality rates are appalling; we are the richest and most “advanced” country, right? We have a lot of catching up to do.
Has my health suffered? Sure, I feel very sad sometimes about this process. I am less optimistic about the future of our country. If we can’t agree on something basic, say, a Constitutional principle to “promote the general welfare”, then what do we really have? If the last 10 months have shown me anything, it is that oftentimes there really is no “common ground”, no “purple state” that a fresh Illinois Senator spoke of years ago. There are two large parties in America and only one of them has shown the courage to at least try and fix what we can all agree is a bad system.
Cowards vote for the status quo. Cowards vote for their own narrow interest. Cowards vote against the future, against their own children’s future, and against women.
Americans have suffered through this health insurance reform fight because those of us who believe in progress have watched a significant portion of our country move further and further away from reality. For those of us living in an imagined 1950s where socialized medicine means at best Soviet healthcare and at worst “death panels”, well, you’ve had to listen to each other in the echo chamber of conservatism. What a dark, fearful place.
Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of Americans who believe in truly American values like liberty, compassion, and progress sigh and pray that we can speak reasonably and intelligently to our friends and families. We pray that one day our children will thank us for bestowing upon them a nation that believes in promoting the general welfare.
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