Health Care as a Commodity

National Public Radio (NPR) is featuring a series on health care systems around the world. Today's segment, which I listen to as I drive home from work, is about how health care is rationed in Britain in order to afford universal coverage. The interviewee, Sir Michael Rawlins, Chairman of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence comments,

"And we, in Britain, as in most of Europe, actually, have a health care system, based on a principle of social solidarity, that we look after each other in times when we’re sick. And that’s very precious to us. And I think that’s what we find so difficult to understand about your health care system (in
America). You don’t have that."

I agree.

Why don't we have a system of social solidarity? Why don't we look after each other more when we're sick? And why isn't this precious to American society?

Is it greed?

Is it because we treat health care as a commodity?

If you've got deep pockets, you can buy some. If not...well...too bad for you and your children. Do without. Sorry.

Well, the difference is we're not talking about buying a new car here. We are talking about access to a quality service that has the potential of preserving life!

Does my life have a price point? What is it?

I personally struggle with the reality that throughout much of human history, human life has been regarded as cheap. Even expendable. In fact, even today, in many parts of the world, it still is. Somehow though, post-World War II, I thought our country was different. This is the United States of America, by God! I grew up with the Declaration of Independence etched in my brain:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Life? Could that be construed to suggest that we are entitled to the security of knowing we have access to life-preserving health care if we need it? Is health care an unalienable right endowed by our Creator that our government assures us?

Hubert H. Humphrey once defined the moral test of a government as:

"how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life- the children, those who are in the twilight of life-the elderly, those who are in the shadows of life-the sick, handicapped, and the needy. "

Who are the needy?

With the way our health care system is sucking the life blood out of the working family with its crushingly high premiums, 5-figure deductibles and $100+ medications, the needy is now the middle class...the heart of American society.

Today that heart is broken.

Today would our government pass Hubert Humphrey's moral test?