What Kind Of A Country Do We Want (Part Two)

Then there’s Medicare, which was created in the mid 1960s. Again, the well to do wrung their hands and called it “socialized medicine.” Labeling certain programs as “socialist” or “communist” has been a frequent tactic used by people in the upper reaches of the income scale. From all of the clamor, you would have thought that this time, DEFINITELY, the end of the Republic was near. Well, nearly 50 years later, the Republic is still here, and again, most elderly folks on Medicare don’t go around wearing little red flags pinned to their shirts or blouses, nor do they sing “The Internationale” on holidays, nor do they make pilgrimages to Lenin’s tomb. If you are elderly, just think where you or other family members, or neighbors and friends would be WITHOUT Medicare. Like many things in government, and in life generally, Medicare isn’t perfect, and I’m not claiming that it is. Times have changed a great deal in medical care since the 1960s, when hospitalization was considered a road to bankruptcy for many elderly people and their families. Since those times, thanks to the development of medicines and new procedures to treat many conditions, hospitalization is not required as often as in the past. I find that I have a good bit of agreement with George W. Bush on the need to update Medicare coverage. (Yes, you read that correctly!)

Capitalism is supposed to be about self-interest. The wealthy are VERY good at that, with some exceptions. Not only are they good at self-interest, they are good at convincing others that defending the interest of the wealthy is good for them, too, even if these other folks would be far better off looking out for their OWN self-interest. That’s just my opinion, not that I have many opinions. Anyway, if you’re on Medicare, please remember that MILLIONS of your fellow Americans have NO health insurance whatsoever! In fact, the number of uninsured Americans has been growing in the last few years at an alarming rate, as businesses continue to cut benefits for workers. Some of these cuts are attributable to trade agreements. American business couldn’t wait to open up free trade, but they didn’t seem to take into consideration the fact that most other countries have some form of national health insurance, often helping to keep the cost of goods produced in these countries lower than American produced items. In America, if you’re lucky, you may have employer provided health insurance, but the number of lucky people is shrinking. Plus, in the past decade or two, workers increasingly have to pay a portion of health care premiums, typically in the 20 to 30 percent range. Then there are some American workers covered by poor health care plans, which exclude many things, or seem to kick in only under certain circumstances, like there has to be a full moon and you have to have the left hind foot of a frog in your back pocket. Anyway, to get back to the subject of Medicare, I’m glad we have such a program in America, and I shudder to think what would happen to many people if we didn’t have it.