For the last couple of weeks, Gregg, over at Electric City Weblog has been encouraging some discussions about Health Care and Health Care reform. While I agree with the idea of a reasonable discussion on Health Care issues, I do question some of the (apperent) assumptions being made by both Gregg and the various people commenting on these discussions.
1) Democrats (Progressives, Liberals, Marxists - insert label of choice here) want Free Health Care -
This is the first of many apperent assumptions I want to address. While I am not a Democrat/Liberal/Progressive/Marxist, I have yet to see anyone commenting at Electric City Weblog advocate for “Free Health Care”. Even Gregg seems to make this assumption when, in his latest discussion post on the subject, he asks
So, I ask this question sincerely of those who advocate of a government system: Is it simply your position that health care should be provided to everyone for free?
This is a poor way to get a discussion going. In fact, it seems that Gregg is practicing something that he (and others) have faulted Mark T of practicing - exageration. At no point, in any of the many discussions on Electric City Weblog (or any other Montana Blog that I can find) has anyone asked for Health Care to be free. This begs the question “Why would Gregg ask the question that way?”. To me, the answer is self-evident. You put the “opposition” into the position of having to argue a philosophy they, themselves, don’t believe in and you avoid the actual discussion taking place.
The fact is that no one involved in these discussions have posted that they believe that health care should be free. Regardless of the program put forward (or the ideas given by many people on both sides of the debate), they all have a cost attached to them. Most of the discussion has been about health insurance, not health care anyway.
2) Everyone that wants Health Care Reform must be a Democrat/Liberal/Marxist/Socialist -
This is just plain dumb. Since an overwhelming majority of people see issues with the American Health Care system, (far more than there are Democrats/Liberals/Progressives/Marxist/Socialists) then it is stands to reason that at least some the Independants and Republicans see issues with the American Health Care System and feel that reforms need to be made.
Worse, this assumption is counter productive. You certainly don’t build consensus by alienating potential allies - especially the ones that are like minding in philosophy. Take me for example. I tend to be fairly conservative. I also see major issues with the Health Care system and believe that some reform is necessary. Do you think for a second that are you likely to get my buy in to your arguments when you are calling me a Marxist or Socialist? Not very smart and certainly not the way to foster any kind of common ground. In short, you are cutting off your nose to spite your face and it minimizes your effectiveness to getting your views considered in the long run.
3) Republicans/Conservatives are only tools of the Insurance industry and aren’t interested in working on Health Care Reform -
Like (2) above, this assumption is simply silly. There are many Conservatives that believe there are issues with the current health care system and that some form of reform is not only necessary, it is inevitable. By name calling and ignoring our input, you only minimize any chance that lasting reform will ever happen. You may have a Democratic President and a 58 vote majority in the Senate, but that does not mean that you can simply ignore half of the population with impunity.
Further, you don’t have to be a Republican or Conservative to be “and insurance industry tool”. Our Senior Senator, Max Baucus is under attack by both Democrats and Republicans for his “behind closed doors” insurance industry friendly Health Care Reform Bill.
4) ObamaCare will hurt (insert your group of choice).
Let’s make something very clear. As of this writing, there IS NO OBAMACARE bill being considered. Period. It doesn’t exist. Anyone refering to an Obamacare bill is trying to scare you, solicite money or support from you or is just plain pulling your chain. While there are a few bills being considered, (Baucus’s bill in committee and the Health Care Reform bill being considered in the House for starters), none of them is the (Dreaded or Celebrated depending on which side of the debate you are on) ObamaCare Bill. It hasn’t been written, it hasn’t been discussed in either the House or Senate and is nothing more than a boogieman argument used by people trying to lie to you. Get over the hype and try to stay focused on the actual issues being discussed. Don’t waste your time arguing with any idiot who refers to ObamaCare. They have proven they are idiots the minute they mention it.
There are more assumptions but most of them stem from the 4 above. If you can avoid these distractions, a meaningful discussion on Health Care and how to address it can be had. I welcome any such discussion here and will continue to participate in the ones going on at ECW.
Moorcat