in the U.S. has been most entertaining for the past few months. Watching the process unfold has truly been a delight and great fun.
My favorite part has been watching the right beat up on the Canadian and British health care systems. Being a Canadian I have found this aspect of the debate particularly enlightening. I’ve learned that the constant bashing of something you know nothing about to further your own political view is a great way to get your point across. I really enjoy the ads the Right produces showing Canadians complaining bitterly about their health care. What the folks on the Right don’t understand is that the two top pastimes in Canada are sports, particularly hockey, and complaining about the health care system. Finding a Canadian who is willing to complain about the system in Canada is a matter of simply finding a Canadian. I think if more Canadians realized that they could get paid to complain about the health care system they would line up for the chance.
Those folks from Canada who are getting their 15 minutes of fame on U.S. television are fun to listen to but I’d really like to hear their response to some other questions. For example, they seem to think the U.S. system is wonderful so let’s give it to them. I got a quote from Kaiser Permanente and Blue Cross for health care. I only had to pay $650.00 per month with a $10,000.00 per year deductible for their service. Not bad by U.S. standards but I can already hear the Canadian response, including those in U.S. TV ads, and most of it are words that are not fit to print.
The bottom line of the dialog, however, has nothing to do with health care, insurance companies, premiums, quality of care or anything else being thrown around. The real conversation here in the U.S. is all about two things; getting your way and laying blame. If you watch the discussions taking place be they on the news or in town hall meetings they are always the same, Right versus Left, period. Everyone wants to get their way and blame someone else for all the country’s woes. It’s fascinating to watch, when anyone puts forth an idea support and criticism is immediately split down party lines. I find this interesting in that it proves to me that no one really wants to solve the problem,they simply want to get their way. If someone puts forth a proposal and the congress or the senate were split, say 50/50, for and against based on the merits of the plan that might be something. The reality is that any idea proposed will immediately be supported or opposed straight down party lines which simply negates the concept of trying to find a solution.
One part of the discussion that I found particularly intriguing was that of Tort law reform. Everyone, both Left and Right, seemed to agree that this was something that significantly added to the cost of health care in the U.S.. I was immensely impressed with everyone in Washington because they all agreed that this was a big problem and so I was anxiously awaiting to see how the bipartisan fix to this problem would be approached. Alas I was once again disappointed by the government of, for and by the people. They all agreed that although this was a big problem there was nothing to be done because the trial lawyer lobby is one of the largest in Washington. Huh? In most of the civilized world this would be a non issue, in fact, in many advanced societies lobbying the government is considered graft, corruption and criminal activity, but not in the U.S. Here it’s all about the money, which again, negates any incentive to find a good solution to the problem at hand. Any solution arrived at will be one where all the big lobby groups are made happy, basically a compromise between special interest groups.
I was more than a little dumbfounded when I heard that the law makers in Washington don’t read the bills they pass, I honestly thought, this can’t be. Then I saw a number of the fine members of Congress actually laugh at the idea. After thinking about how incongruous this seemed I realized that they were right in laughing at the concept. If every bill passed by the U.S. federal government is a compromise between all the big lobbies and special interest groups why bother reading them. Agree or disagree, there is nothing you can do to change it so what the heck, vote! If it’s a bill by my party I vote for it, if not I vote against it, life is really simple in Washington and they get paid for this, what a great job!
The health care debate has been great fun to watch and it will hopefully continue for while yet. It’s always nice to a little comic relief in such dark economic times.
