Tuesday, June 26, 2007
It is Sweet to do Nothing
I have an ongoing discussion (argument, debate, word fight) about universal health care, or UHC. I favor it. My conservative friends H, M, and R oppose. H and M tend to advance arguments or anecdotes to show that UHC either doesn’t work or works very poorly in countries that have it. R argues that health care is not one of the services government should provide. He agrees that government should provide military protection, postal service, and sound money. Health care, along with free food, free housing, and free clothing, is a service that government should not provide.
I presented the argument that countries with UHC (e.g., Britain, France, Germany, and Canada) spend less per person on medical services and have better outcomes in terms of longevity than the United States. R does not dispute my claim that we spend more on health care than these other countries. He argues instead that the longevity in various countries is not related to the existence or absence of UHC. Longevity in the United States is lowered because of the high incidence of murder and other crime here. Costa Rica, which does not have UHC, experiences longevity in the same range as Britain because the Costa Rican people have a naturally healthy life style.
I could not argue with nor disprove R’s statistics. After stating that I believe that government on some level (federal, state, or local) should provide basic health care for all I presented the emergency room argument. Emergency rooms are overburdened and some have closed because of the large number of uninsured patients who get all their medical needs provided at hospital emergency rooms. R stated that it is not true that emergency rooms have been closed because of overuse by the uninsured. I stated that many have indeed been closed here in Los Angeles.
Rather than concede that he had been mistaken, R’s response was that the situation in Los Angeles and Tucson was the result of large numbers of illegal immigrants who use the emergency rooms. San Francisco and other cities farther from the Mexican border do not have the problem and do not have hospitals that have had to close their emergency rooms.
R is arguing that none of my reasons have any validity. UHC is not a solution for emergency room overloads; the solution is, by implication, to get rid of the illegal immigrants. In R’s world, UHC is unnecessary. There is nothing wrong with our medical care system that can’t be fixed by getting rid of frivolous malpractice lawsuits. There is nothing else that needs to be done. Dolce far niente, as the Italians say.
I presented the argument that countries with UHC (e.g., Britain, France, Germany, and Canada) spend less per person on medical services and have better outcomes in terms of longevity than the United States. R does not dispute my claim that we spend more on health care than these other countries. He argues instead that the longevity in various countries is not related to the existence or absence of UHC. Longevity in the United States is lowered because of the high incidence of murder and other crime here. Costa Rica, which does not have UHC, experiences longevity in the same range as Britain because the Costa Rican people have a naturally healthy life style.
I could not argue with nor disprove R’s statistics. After stating that I believe that government on some level (federal, state, or local) should provide basic health care for all I presented the emergency room argument. Emergency rooms are overburdened and some have closed because of the large number of uninsured patients who get all their medical needs provided at hospital emergency rooms. R stated that it is not true that emergency rooms have been closed because of overuse by the uninsured. I stated that many have indeed been closed here in Los Angeles.
Rather than concede that he had been mistaken, R’s response was that the situation in Los Angeles and Tucson was the result of large numbers of illegal immigrants who use the emergency rooms. San Francisco and other cities farther from the Mexican border do not have the problem and do not have hospitals that have had to close their emergency rooms.
R is arguing that none of my reasons have any validity. UHC is not a solution for emergency room overloads; the solution is, by implication, to get rid of the illegal immigrants. In R’s world, UHC is unnecessary. There is nothing wrong with our medical care system that can’t be fixed by getting rid of frivolous malpractice lawsuits. There is nothing else that needs to be done. Dolce far niente, as the Italians say.
Labels: effect of illegal immigrants, hospital emergency rooms, longevity data, malpractice lawsuits, Universal health care
