Should Health Care be a Privilege for Only Those Who Can Pay??

I happen to believe that life has a purpose for every birth. Whether life is sacred or not is not a relevant question. But once born every life is relevant and so is the fetal form before birth. Relevance, however is dependent upon sustaining a life quality that enables all humans to live a relevant life. Sickness and physical deformation may be disabling but they must not be allowed to become suicidal or homicidal.If sickness is permitted to worsen because of lack of available treatment this is a form of homicide. If treatment is prevented because someone is unable to pay and the outcome is death this is homicide. A recent Harvard University study shows that at least 45,000 Americans die prematurely (needlessly) because they lack health insurance and do not get life-saving treatment. We, those having adequate health care seem indifferent to this government-sanctioned homicide. No one is prosecuted. No one is incarcerated. Does anyone other than the friends and family members of the uninsured deceased men, women, and children care a hoot? The angry Republican and right wing opposition to some form of guaranteed health care for every American provides an answer. Their answer is NO we do not care--let them die!

How can anyone other than the most heinous selfish human accept such an answer? Yet most of us are at most ambivalent to the idea of government guaranteed heal care for all Americans. Why? Do you really believe that it will cost too much? If that is your reason why allow birth to begin with. Virtually everyone born will become sick during their life time, often critically sick. Without proper treatment we may die. Today, according to the Harvard University independent study we allow about 45,000 to die because they cannot pay for proper treatment. Why don't we only allow wealthy people to have children? Maybe then we will eliminate deaths from lack of insurance.

Hundreds of insurance company executives are paid multi million dollars annually to maximize the billion dollar plus profits of the companies that sell and manage heath care paid for by the insurance they sell. Privately owned medical clinics that distribute bonuses and pay based upon profits also make certain that they do not accept uninsured patients. Millions of Americans are now victims of our profit-centered health care system as they lose their jobs and have their homes foreclosed. Medical insurance evaporates at the same time and they are excluded from care by the profit-driven health care system that prevails in the USA. This is fact not fancy--if you do not pay the profit piper you do not get health care. You may become one of the 45,000 who cannot tell their death-bed story because the are no longer speaking. And if they could would we listen? Should health care be a privilege for only those who can pay?

Awakening the Past to Save the Future

The political arena in the USA is laden with demands for instant gratification. We have been conditioned by the media and our own frenzy to expect immediate results whatever the problem. Knee-jerk reactions are typical responses to virtually any proposed change, and if the outcome takes more than a month we write it off as failure. Well then we are all failures if that is the case. The real industrial age began with the stone age and the advent of the bronze age many thousands of years ago. We have now mastered weapons of self-destruction and have used the atom bomb to kill thousands of humans. The art of self destruction has nearly matured and we can be thankful that we have some time to prevent its full maturation. The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama speaks to the wisdom of the Nobel committee who recognizes that we, the world, has the good fortune to have President Obama as the leader of the USA and the flag bearer of a nuclear weapon-free world.

The Nobel Prize Linus Pauling who won for characterizing the RNA molecule advocated cessation of all atmospheric testing of nuclear weapon because the fall out was deadly. His book written in the 1950's, "No More War" expressed his passionate belief that a peaceful world was possible, but it required recognition of the self-destructive path we were taking in developing and employing atom bombs. His message is resonating amongst some in the world who understand the essential need to abolish all atom bombs. President Obama is foremost amongst those.

President Obama has voiced his plan to eliminate all atom bombs by initiating a vigorous stockpile reduction program and the eventual destruction of all atom bombs. He understands that this need is vital to assure world peace and to avoid possible obliteration of life on Earth.

The Nobel Committee recognized his avowed purpose to eliminate atom bombs and and to attempt to create a more peaceful world. Like Linus Pauling, President Obama understands that the world's ultimate future is dependent upon creating a world where the capability for instantaneous immolation is replaced by a universal quest for peace.

The past tells us that instant change is illusionary and that only learning lessons from past mistakes and taking steps to correct them will do so. Those who clamor for instant gratification are incapable of learning from the past mistakes and fail to recognize how human inability to admit failure must be overcome before new paths can be taken.

President Obama recognizes that we must change but he also recognizes that we must learn to understand our failures and accept failures as stepping stones to a better future. We must learn from our mistakes by awakening the past and illuminate the missteps that have led humankind to the precipice of annihilation by atomic warfare.

The Nobel committee awarded President Obama with the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for this reason. Their choice was made with the hope and belief that President Obama will awaken us all and finally encourage the complete destruction of nuclear weapon stock piles and cease all atom bomb development. This vital step must be taken to bring peace to the world.