I‘m getting tired of hearing “How will we pay for it?” when it comes to proposed socialized medicine. This question is supposed to be a debate ender and is meant to draw people into dead-end arguments over budgets and taxes. But, in fact, it’s not a dead end; we’re just looking for answers to that question in the wrong place.
People act like socialized medicine is some black hole where billions of dollars will disappear. Well, no. You’re thinking of the Pentagon, where millions of dollars already do disappear. In socialized medicine, you will obviously employ people in it who will work and pay taxes. They will also spend that money, creating economic benefits. And, people served by it will have more money to spend because they’re not going broke paying inflated insurance rates for medical care. The money does not simply disappear. It goes right back into the economy, rather than ending up in the pockets of defense contractors and Wall Street offshore bank accounts.
See, in a socialized medical system, we can pay the genuine costs and not the ballooning costs created by the need for profit margins. Keep in mind that most corporations need 20% growth per year to consider themselves successful. In health insurance, that means medical costs must go up, not down. Corporations are not out there to find ways to offer the best quality for the least money. They’re out there to provide the least quality for the most money.
How can we justify this attitude when it comes to the health of human beings? If anyone says, “How will we pay for it?” they should be asked this question: Suppose your child or spouse was trapped in a burning building. Firefighters arrive but you are asked, “How will you pay for this rescue?” The response to both questions should be the same.
The capitalism cheerleaders always tell us the market will fix it. But the market has not. Even the half-assed market-government hybrid of Obamacare has failed after the market itself could not deliver on the now nearly a hundred-year-old promise.The market has had plenty of time. Plenty of people have died waiting. Time's up. Now is the time for the market to get the hell out of the way. Click To Tweet
Capitalism, again, delivers the least for the most money. That’s the entire basis behind it now. You can see the way brand names once associated with high quality now offer shoddy junk but at the same price. It’s called a “backdoor profit”. That’s where, if you cut the manufacturing costs and wages, you can make more money while keeping the product at the same price. Or, even raise the price and make twice the money. This is done in medical care now when it is provided by private insurance. And, if you don’t think this to be the case, you’re living in a delusion.
The United States is one of the most backwards nations on the face of this Earth. Nearly every Western nation has socialized medicine, but not the United States. The United States knows private medical insurance is inefficient, wasteful, and obscenely cavalier about human life and suffering. Still, it stubbornly clings to this illusion of “good private medical care” because its own ego is so heavily invested in being “right” when most everyone of good sense can clearly see that it is wrong.
No one should say “How will we pay for it?” when it comes to doing what is right. We’ve thrown away trillions of dollars on weapons and war. Trillions spent on killing other human beings. And yet we only ask “How will we pay for it?” when it’s about saving human lives?! Am I alone here in seeing the sheer obscenity in that? Usually, conservatives define “obscenity” in terms of their own puritanical sexual views. But that’s not correct. Obscenity, as it should be defined, is never questioning money spent on killing people but becoming outraged and indignant if it is proposed we spend that money to save people. That’s what obscenity is.
Then we hear about “Oh, all these people want free stuff!” The government gives the military “free stuff” in terms of weapons. In the Medieval Period, a knight had to supply his own weapons, armor, and horse out of his own pocket. The king didn’t pay for it. So, the military today gets free stuff because they’re not required to supply their own weapons. Oh, and they get free medical care too, pretty much for life under the VA. So let’s have an end to this “free stuff” nonsense. Or, I say, let every member of the military buy their own rifle and every naval officer buy their own ship. Let us require the president pay every time he uses Air Force One, and pay monthly rent on the White House.
We need to come to understand that this is not the “greatest nation on Earth”. It’s actually the most backward nation on Earth, considering how no excuses exist for this to be so. There is no scarcity of resources or available money. There is no lack of human resources to do it. There is a government capable of carrying out what needs to be done.
All that stands in the way is a superstitious cultural taboo created by capitalism. This is just as bad as a nation that has a cultural taboo that requires things like “honor killings” and so forth. This is the same dynamic if you have a taboo that says you cannot create a socialized medical system to save lives. People are just as dead thanks to the taboo.
So let’s have done with this backwards taboo created by capitalism, with its system of honor killings by medical neglect. Because that’s what they are: Honor killings by proxy. #CapitalistHealthcareKills
“Honor killings are not honorable by God. They are driven by ignorance and ego and nothing more. The Creator favors the man who loves over the man who hates.” ― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
Feature Photo Credit: Esteban Chiner ©2006
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Jack Perry
Latest posts by Jack Perry (see all)
- The Vietnam War of Health Care - December 17, 2018
- Respect For The Dead Does Not Include Lying For Them - September 1, 2018
- Moving Beyond the Value Set of Capitalism - August 23, 2018
