Health care
It’s actually sickness care
Dear Editor:
When it comes to health care reform, I‘m standing on the parade route with little red, white and blue flags and cheering my heart out.
This may come as a surprise to those who know me as a man almost pathologically suspicious of all political leadership. Elected officials have a long history of creating laws, while immunizing themselves from their effects.
I‘m of the opinion that something has to be done, but my excitement over health care reform has nothing to do with politics.
In March, beltway politicians passed the Health Care Reform Act. If they diagnosed the problem accurately, their laws will be the treatment necessary to put things right and the symptoms of our imperfect health care system will go away. If they are guilty of political malpractice, we will be burdened by new laws with significant side effects.
Regardless of whether the patient thrives or dies, we will all feel the effects.
While we can debate the issues, pass laws and attempt to prognosticate about the future of our country, there is one overwhelming fact that has been ignored. At the end of the day, the Health Care Reform Act simply is a nationalization of our sickness care delivery system. What we call health care is actually sickness care. Health insurance helps pay for our sickness care needs. The Health Care Reform Act helps government micromanage sickness care.
The sickness care system is inherently flawed, because it treats the symptoms and ignores the cause. No bureaucratic reform of any scope will get us to the place we want to be.
Face it: Nobody wants to get sick so they can go to the hospital for free. What we all desire is excellent health and that can’t be legislated.
It’s up to us to be champions of our own health.
Our lives depend on how we care for our bodies. True health care reform is getting and staying healthy. Once each person takes responsibility for his or her own health, how sickness care is funded will be far less important.
If we all begin to focus on a few basic strategies like exercise, nutrition, posture, rest and attitude, we can be the leaders of health care reform.
Ray Pope, D.C. Stanwood
