The Hype of Healthcare: A debilitating distraction

Ok. Why focus on healthcare anyway?

While reading several responses by leading economists to Baucus' health plan that was released this morning I asked myself the question, "Why all the hype on healthcare?". Ok. More accurately my thoughts transpired as "Duh! How could we all be so stupid, we're all looking in the wrong direction!"

The root of the problem isn't that people don't have healthcare, it's that they don't have jobs. Healthcare costs money, money comes from a sustained and healthy economy that can provide for itself the healthcare it needs.

The ultimate problem with all these plans for healthcare, and everyone will agree, is that they are very costly. Henry J. Aaron wrote for the New York Times, "The fundamental challenge is simple: extending health insurance to everyone is expensive."

Aaron seemed to think, however, that the only solution to the expense problem was to increase taxes through a strong unified democratic vote. But would that solve the root issue? I think not. The only way to insure a healthy America is to have a healthy American economy insuring itself, either publicly or privately, but it all boils down to money that at this point just isn't there.

In a healthy economic environment the larger problem of healthcare will naturally abate. Granted there will still be cases of individuals or families with disabilities or low income levels that need to be cared for, but in a healthy economic climate the needs of the few can be met by the needs of the many through careful distribution of aid. But in a time of economic turmoil the American people cannot afford to shift their focus from the rebuilding of our fragile economy to passing legislation that's egregious expense may have armageddon size economic consequences.

Here i believe an analogy may be appropriate. When a trained fighter that's just broken his wrist hear's of a rival who wishes to challenge him in the ring, he doesn't run out shouting "Do your worst!". He doesn't take the challenge because he knows he will fail. His fighting tool is not yet ready. So he waits, he heals, he trains. And when the rival comes back at him with the challenge, he cooly accepts. He is now ready to face the worst, with his very best.

America has a broken wrist, and before it takes a swing at the belligerent giant of healthcare reform it should ask itself, "Am I ready to take a beating?"

AJ Finch