I would like for you to imagine a perfect society. In this society, just as in our own, there is sickness and disease. This sickness and disease requires treatment. How, do you imagine, would a perfect society provide this vital treatment to its members? Would those who already are sick and need treatment the most, be denied coverage because of their condition? Would someone who works for a large corporation deserve better coverage than someone who is self-employed? Would profit override the best advice from a doctor? I do not believe so.
I think the way a perfect society provides and pays for health care would differ greatly from our own system. I think it is evident that, in a perfect society just as in our own, all humans deserve equal access to quality health care. This means that individual health care decisions will have no influence from either social or financial status.
And how would a perfect society pay for such a system? I believe that since equal access to quality health care is a right that all members of society deserve, the obligation to pay for this falls upon society as a whole. This means a single-payer system that divvies up and distributes the cost to all members of society in an equitable way.
This certainly is a simplification of the dilemma that faces our society today. We do not live in a perfect society. And the complexities of our current health care system and insurance industry make it very difficult to see a viable way to make real change and improvement.
But I think it is helpful to take a step back and look at the problem with a little idealism. The state of our health care system is a shameful and urgent problem, and anyone who would suggest otherwise either is disingenuous or ignorant. So take a minute to open your mind and imagine the perfect. Your idea of perfection undoubtedly will differ from my own. This perfection may be unattainable, but the idea of the perfect will most effectively aid us in becoming simply better. And it is our moral duty as humans to strive for this improvement. Our children deserve it.
I think the way a perfect society provides and pays for health care would differ greatly from our own system. I think it is evident that, in a perfect society just as in our own, all humans deserve equal access to quality health care. This means that individual health care decisions will have no influence from either social or financial status.
And how would a perfect society pay for such a system? I believe that since equal access to quality health care is a right that all members of society deserve, the obligation to pay for this falls upon society as a whole. This means a single-payer system that divvies up and distributes the cost to all members of society in an equitable way.
This certainly is a simplification of the dilemma that faces our society today. We do not live in a perfect society. And the complexities of our current health care system and insurance industry make it very difficult to see a viable way to make real change and improvement.
But I think it is helpful to take a step back and look at the problem with a little idealism. The state of our health care system is a shameful and urgent problem, and anyone who would suggest otherwise either is disingenuous or ignorant. So take a minute to open your mind and imagine the perfect. Your idea of perfection undoubtedly will differ from my own. This perfection may be unattainable, but the idea of the perfect will most effectively aid us in becoming simply better. And it is our moral duty as humans to strive for this improvement. Our children deserve it.
