Obama Health Care Town Halls

So I was watching AMFix this morning, and I have to first start off by saying that I haven't been following the Obama health care debates at all (life, work, everything else just is taking priority at the minute). But at any rate, nothing else was on the idiot tube this morning, so I decided to hear what they had to say. Obviously there wasn't any discussions on the meat and potatoes of the health care package, the conversation was focused more on how people were reacting to what he had to say at these town halls.

Now I'm no political expert, and by no means, an expert in his package, but it would seem to me that as one of the last so-called Superpowers of the world, America has done nothing to fix a lingering issue of personal health and improving the quality of life for each American. Over 40 million American's are without any type of healthcare, and yet we still consider ourselves to be the richest country in the world? Sure, the upper echelon's of society who have jobs that pay for healthcare, and can afford private insurance or the pricey procedures; however, for the rest of the American population how do they go on their day to day lives?

It's really a game of Russian roulette that we are playing here with these folks lives and certainly a generational issue of inherited bad decisions. Those without healthcare first and foremost do not take any preventative care, but also that means when something does go wrong, they have to use emergency services (where services are then diverted from other emergencies thus putting a strain on the system) and in some cases can't afford to pay for the costs of the procedures and visit and therefore it is up to society to flip the bill. We do that with increase in healthcare costs that we pay out of pocket, and rising insurance premiums that we see year after year. So I ask, for those who do not have healthcare, to have the government move in and provide a sort of manditory universal coverage, isn't that just a fair thing to do and in effect a way for you to pull your weight in society? Going back to those who choose to pay roulette with their health, when they have children are those children going to be raised in an environment where they understand their health and take responsibility for that, or will they following in their parents footsteps and take similar measures to not get themselves insured and yet still be a drain on the rest of society?

I'm certainly not a big fan of government--any government getting too large and taking too much interest in sectors where the people should drive it through go old fashion capitalism and suppy and demand, but I do think that when it comes to health and the care of you and your families health, it isn't a matter that should be taken on lightly. In fact, of all the things that we do spend money on, such as our over-inflated defense budget, let's take a step back and think about this. We spend money with the intent that through R&D and superior firepower we will hold back any forces that wish to do harm to this country or the people of this country; and yet a simple bacteria or virus or poor diet (and the list goes on) is doing more harm to us now, today, in a clear and present danger sort of way, and yet we do not spend nearly as much time and resources to address it? Why is that?

And yet the people at the town hall meetings who were acting up and disagree with Obama's plan, if asked if they support the wars (plural) that are going on and the 3 trillion dollars that we have spent on it was spent wisely, I wonder how many would get up on their soap box and declare us victors on all fronts as if we defeated the Nazies. How many of those people offer any type of meaningful resolution or alternative that can still achieve similar goals? And let's be clear, the goals of this nation regarding healthcare should be focused on:

1. Reducing dependencies on a system that unfairly charges those who do the right thing (pay for the services that they receive) by requiring everyone to be covered by some sort of insurance.
2. Everyone should have manditory preventitive care and regular checkups to ensure optimal health and address minor issues when they are minor to stave off major issues that could have been avoided
3. Reduce overhead on government programs, such as Medicare and Mediaid from those who should be covered under alternative insurance, so funds can be diverted to those who the programs were originally intended for
4. To improve the overall health and well being of this nation and everyone within

The last one I think is the most important, as I'm not even advocating that there is a single road to victory on this one. It's not just going to see your doctor once a year, but other steps such as improving your own lifestyle, that will aid in the recovery process of getting healthier. For example, you could be drastically overweight, and seeing your doctor is still a very beneficial thing to do and can catch many illnesses before they become life-threatening, but until you do something yourself to loose the weight that you have, all that can be done by a doctor is very superficial and never alleviates the underlying condition.

American's have become too reliant on others to fix our problems. If there is a problem with our health, we ask well where's the program that would have helped me on that? If we have a problem with our children at school, we ask well where's the person who should have been looking after my kid? If we don't stop this cycle of dependency we will never reach a point in our development as a society as a country, where we can say we are truely independent. Independence and freedom carries a stringent pricetag, one of self initiation and understanding that someone else shouldn't be responsible for cleaning up your messes.