Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Healthcare

Psychopathology. Observing the furor of the nation's conservatives over the Supreme Court's ruling on the constitutionality of the Obama healthcare law, one takes comfort in remembering that the law should cover mental health services.

In comparison with other parts of the world, the draconian, inequitable and inhumane health care system we have had until now is clearly insane. Speak to people who live in Europe where national single-payer healthcare is considered a right and you will hear expressions of utter disbelief that in the United States -- the richest country in the world -- a major political party and its candidate for president are fighting to preserve a system that grants privately owned, profit making insurance companies the primary right to make critical life and death decisions.

Healthcare reformers need to do a better job at attacking the false premise promulgated by the GOP that "Obamacare" is socialized medicine, a "government takeover"of healthcare. The healthcare system we have had is an insurance company takeover of healthcare, one where access to services,denial of coverage, the cost of premiums, co-pays and procedures were all determined by insurance corporations. Those on the right who oppose healthcare reform criticize any government involvement in healthcare as being an infringement on personal liberty. Considering the system we have had, this could easily be interpreted to mean that Americans are at liberty to go bankrupt trying to cover their healthcare needs. Recent studies suggest that more than 60 percent of people who go bankrupt are actually capsized by medical bills.

Advocates of healthcare reform need to challenge critics to demonstrate how a system run by private business -- which by definition exists to make a profit and is therefore primarily responsible to its shareholders -- benefits the American health consumer more than a system where treatment is administered and guaranteed by the government and responsible to every American citizen.

Though it gets rid of some of the worst abuses of the old system (denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, etc.) the Obama plan remains a somewhat tame attempt to reform the health insurance industry. Rather than a foray into socialism, the administration's new health program will represent a major boon to the insurance companies as millions of previously uninsured consumers follow the law's mandate provision and become new customers of Blue Cross, Blue Shield, United Health, Wellpoint, Aetna, Humana and others.

The largest U.S. health insurers collected some $650 billion in premiums in 2009, the latest year for which data were available. Those who control corporate America will make sure they continue to get paid from cradle to grave. Seems insane to me.