U.S. Health-Care Hysteria

You can lead a horse to water, but he'll decide on his own whether or when he'll partake of it. Americans are an ornery bunch; self-reliant, independent, proud and insistent that their individualism reflects the values of the country as a whole. They're nice people, just like people anywhere. There's this myth that Americans pull together for the good of the entire country, but like all myths it tends to melt into the ether of fog when reality puts it to the test.

It's been known for civic aeons that the United States is a 'me-first', 'I'm all right, Jack' nation. Soft hearts talk about the need to pull people up by their shoestrings, help them get on, encourage aspirations toward economic success, but it's the rare few individuals who really mean it, and who will go to any lengths in their attempts to secure a better place for all the people who live in that great country. Exempt most Republicans who cling to the sanctity of free enterprise, in every endeavour.

Among them have been some of their outstanding politicians. Who have recognized that their country, that exemplifies opportunities and the relativity of equality of opportunities, that loves to express its vision in the phrase "anyone can aspire to become president of the United States" (anyone born in the U.S., a citizen of the U.S.) - from low economic and social status and anywhere above that - by the strength of their own talents and ambitions.

That beloved slogan was finally realized in a way that no one might have predicted. And now, after a number of failed successions of attempts to bring the United States into the world of sensibly-administered countries providing the elemental necessities of health care to its population, we can add the latest; President Barack Hussein Obama. Going all out, in a visionary, dedicated mission never quite seen before.

Emphatically devoted to the rescue of 46-million Americans for whom there is no reliable health coverage through health insurance. And battling not only the health insurance conglomerates, and the private hospitals and health-care clinics operating within the capitalist system as money-making emporiums, but also the fears instilled in the general public by the well-paid public relations for same, blackening the effort as 'socialist'.

Twenty years ago when I asked a colleague and friend with whom I worked in the United States whether she wouldn't want a universal health care system in her country, she was offended. There was no way she could envision that happening in her beloved country; equating such an idea with a lessening of the American ideal, foisting upon the country - and the indigent poor (a social classification her extended family represented) such a social abomination.

She wasn't prepared to discuss it, to explain her views, to respond to any arguments pointing out the inequity of the current situation, the dire straits that people found themselves in - becoming, from middle-class, suddenly poor when faced with the insurmountable costs of treating the sudden onset of serious illness or catastrophic accident-caused disabilities. Her mind was set; she would never, ever support creeping 'socialism'.

And the cost associated with implementing such a universal system! Horrendous! What can the Democrats in Congress and their president be thinking? Trade-offs like limits in charitable and mortgage-interest deductions (unheard of anywhere else), along with an income tax surcharge on the wealthy are unspeakably un-American. But it's quite American to leave a huge and growing proportion of the population subject to ill health and dwindling personal resources.

The very thought of preventive diagnostic testing is another anathema. Prevention is sensible, but aside from preventive testing for dire disease onset, there are other methodologies, most notably life-style changes. The human body requires care over its life-time. The kind of care that is associated with good, healthy food intake and physical exercise, and avoidance of using or ingesting harmful substances (to excess).

What! Walk instead of drive? Forego those fast-food eateries serving quasi-nutritional almost-food? Give up alcohol, tobacco, recreational ... um ... drugs? What's left to celebrate in life? Americans insist on their right to overload an already-inadequate health care system with their need for pharmaceuticals which drug companies formulate and advertise at a furious rate. The love affair with the car, with social consumption of alcohol and drugs is not easily set aside.

So this president, it has been revealed, has a sinister, hidden agenda. One that will target the elderly, so that when you're old enough, ill enough, medical treatment will be withheld. That's socialism for you. And that's exactly where he's headed, what he's all about - moving the United States toward state socialism. Russia is so pleased.