This article (and all those who commented on it) from Think Progress points out the economic and political problems with our current health care system but omits perhaps the most important one: the U.S. health care system is also an ethical failure. There are three questions that we need to answer if we’re going to reform health care in this country: The economic question: How do we pay for health care? The political question: How can we create a consensus that will marshal the nation’s resources to solve the health care problem? And the ethical question: “How do we make health care available and affordable for all Americans?”
Health care reform in this country won’t succeed unless it’s supported by a bipartisan democratic process that recognizes the economic, political, and ethical dimensions to the crisis.
2 responses so far ↓
Wayne A. Schneider // January 8, 2007 at 9:23 am
I’ll say it again to “kick things off”: The problem isn’t that health care in this country costs so much, it’s that they’re charging us so much for it. I believe that health care should be driven by altruism, not capitalism. I would not be surprised if I was alone in this thinking.
geulincx // January 9, 2007 at 5:31 am
I agree that, among the moral reasons for changing our health care system, altruism deserves special mention. Concern for the well-being of others can go a long way toward making the world a better place.
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