A Trillion Dollars For Health

The budget for the war in Iraq is, by many estimates, well on it's way to a trillion dollars.

That's a whole lot of zeros for anyone.

We can't fund a base level of health care for the people of the United States. Apparently the system can't afford it - not even basic emergent care.

Am I the only one that sees the hypocrisy in this?

Now this doesn't have to be an initiative to make all care free. No, we don't have to use the word "socialized" because Lord only knows that word does crazy things to people wearing red, white and blue. But how about we consider giving people some basic elements of care that can give them a springboard upon which to pursue the American Dream?

There will always be people that will tap the system and work it to their own advantage. That's always going to be the situation in a free and capitalistic nation. No worries - that's a given. It happens right now - and it always will.

But dealing with a catastrophic emergency ... an issue of life and death ... and then recovering from it to discover that you're now going to spend the rest of your life simply paying off your "health" ... I'm just not sure that's worth the price paid.

Besides - the reality of the emergency room is that we all pay for indigent care anyways. Our insurance premiums go up, we all have less coverage, and more and more people are uninsured. How can this be a positive evolution in our society?

I don't think we need to give it all away ... and I do think that those who work within the system, the providers, need to be reimbursed reasonably for the work they do, just like anyone else in the US would expect in any other job. Fair pay for good work. But ... that trilion dollars sure could be useful ....

Lucky for us, there is a rather important day coming in November ... in which you can place a vote for where your dollars get spent - yet again. Iraq ... Afghanistan ... or how about a novel idea - The Land Of The Free And Home Of The Brave ...