Political Footballs

Not literally, of course, but figuratively, politics kicks around a lot of ‘footballs.’

Healthcare is one; so is gun control; another is environmental protection regulations. There are many more of course, but that’s not the point. The point is each of these issues is important in and of itself. Each has a vital importance for Americans of all stripes and ages. We all rely on common sense to guide and manage all of these issues.

When they are hijacked for political purposes, the common good of the American people is lost. Here are examples:

Gun Control: mass murders and gun violence stats are horrendous and getting worse in America; not elsewhere, but true here. Oh sure, there are some exceptions in South America, but then that’s another cultural dysfunction unrelated to American gun control issues.

Healthcare, too: what we have is better than what we had before; many political camps swore they would handicap Obamacare to the point of extinction and they followed through on their promises. They damaged several elements of Obamacare because those same powers made certain the weak points were installed in the program during the compromise haggling prior to final legislation enacting the ACA. If congress would cooperate and collaborate for the good of the American people, these problems could be fixed long enough to give time for other comprehensive repairs to be made.

The ACA is a giant experiment. For the most part it worked and millions of uninsured got coverage. Many more got better coverage than they already had. Cost of coverage generally stabilized; some went down; others went up; the rest rose in cost but at a smaller rate of increase than previous years.

The ACA still needs a lot of fixing to better serve the public. But with half the congress bent on destroying the bill for a reason that does not compute for the rest of us, fixing ACA is not in the cards.

Environmental regulations have been misrepresented as jacking up prices for many goods and services. That, too, is nonsense. If some prices rise because those business producers are forced to find cleaner means of producing their goods for market, then we all benefit from a cleaner environment. If nothing were done, some businesses would be making unfair profits while the rest of us pay for the repair of the environment, or suffer the health consequences of living in a polluted environment. China anyone? Would you like to live in industrial regions of China, including Bejing? Have you seen their pollution recently?

I grew up in southern California. We had smog back then; serious smog, the kind that made you short of breath by supper time. It was a common malady in the 40’s and 50’s. Not so today. When I moved to New England in the mid-50’s, my asthma and shortness of breath nearly disappeared. Smog was not a problem in Massachusetts.

The cost to Californians living with smog and polluted water and soil was enormous. And the taxpayers were the ones who had to pay for that, not the producers or businesses who were responsible for creating the pollution. Not so today. The responsibility is properly fixed on those industries and producers who cause the problem.

Regulations keep them honest and the rest of us dealing with apples and apples, not apples and oranges.

Healthcare issues need to be discussed in full. What are appropriate care standards? Who should be responsible for defining these? Who pays for these? Are there elements of consumer choice in some of these matters? Or are life standards universal enough that standard healthcare access is considered a given in our developed society?

Who are the winners if our citizens are more healthy than not? All of us; certainly you and I who have better health because of it. But what about employers? They are winners, too, because their work force is healthier and more productive. Lost hours and productivity due to health and unattended disabilities are expensive to the employer. Better that our healthcare system work for the benefit of all.

It very well may be that we need a single payer system. I doubt a privately owned company can do as well as a government agency. Too many deep pockets get attention in private industry. And regulation cuts both ways in keeping private and government agencies honest and accountable.

So it is in the interest of only a few people that we have a disrupted healthcare system. Those interests are billionaires or wannabe billionaires. The greed requires us to avoid private control of this industry. Plain and simple.

If we dare to ask the simple questions, I’m sure we will find reasonable solutions that will benefit the common good of us all. That goes for all political footballs, not just the three identified here.

When will we the people insist that this process be engaged and implemented? It is up to us.

July 5, 2017