Music Corner World

Some of the friends I made at the CCL last week have an entirely different view of the world than I do.

Take for example Health Care. My values start with a simple premise: if someone is sick, and treatment is possible, then that someone should be able to receive that treatment. In my mind the function of government should be to make that ideal possible.

Of course, life isn't that simple. Debate swirls around health care in a more turgid form than tornados in Oklahoma. Many believe (see the intriguing logic in this link from the Family Research Council) that the economics or the moral structure of the health care system naturally limit the poor's access to health care and that universal access is not a value. They argue that market forces should determine who does and who doesn't benefit from the latest in medical technology.

Others believe, and I agree, that health care is a basic value and right of all Americans, especially our children. If we are to claim that right we have to examine our current system and try to find out why we and I agree can't deliver that basic health care right now. We know how complex that issue is, starting with cost; just reading Hogg's Blog should be enough to tell us that. But just demonizing a portion of the Health Care system, like the pharmaceutical industry, as the bad guy is too simplistic. As I found out last week, there are very real debates on both sides of that one.

So how do we come to a solution? Here are my simplistic suggestions:

1. We agree that Basic Health Care is a right and an important communal Value
   
2. We agree that 'Basic' means any and all non-experimental procedures available for preventive, curative and palliative care
3. We agree that the current system isn't cutting it but that we don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water
4. We agree that nothing about our system is sacred
   
5. We agree that the government has a role to play in making the whole thing work.

Of course, the last four points can't work until we agree to the first, which is the whole point of this post in the first place.

I think this is one of those issues that the Democrats can use this year to dump it all over the "compassionate conservatives" who expect market forces to take care of the 40,000,000 Americans who have no health care coverage. But then, the Democrats would have to be thinking, and they haven't been known for that recently.

There. Now that I've solved that, bring on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis!