Public Versus Private: A Spectrum Not Quantum States

Who do you think is at fault: the public or the politicians, the Democrats or the Republicans, or is it the current state of our political system or our societal fixation on a sport-like winner/loser mentality?

Alright, the question is too generic; it applies to too many issues. So I suppose it would only be fair for me to be more specific and targeted on the question. Then you would be able to allow yourself a proper amount of time to give yourself your considered judgment on the question. So here goes.

Why has the issue of a public option on the Health Care Reform bill been reduced to basically an either – or decision? Is the great American innovative spirit so diminished that none of the politicians from either party or on either side of the debate are so limited in their understanding that they can only conceive of the Health Care system being structured only with or without an absolute, indivisible, rigid, unimaginative, and bureaucratically operated public option?

I am not asking if you are for or against the public option, if you think that is the question, please follow the steps below:

1. Go back to the beginning of this text.
2. Read a little slower.
3. Pay more attention to the words.
4. Repeat until you understand the question.

OK! Now we are on the rhetorical same page.

The answer is pretty easy, it’s “All of the Above”.

The Health Care issue regarding a public option has been cast as great threat that will do any number of catastrophic things. It will destroy the private insurance industry and cost jobs. It will give the Government control over individuals’ health care. It will require everyone to pay more taxes, or at the least spend more of their money on mandated health insurance. It will use Government funds to pay for abortions. But if these are the issues, then why not create a Health Care Reform act that will not do this horrible things? And why not do it with a public option that is not of the type that those opposed to one assume it must be?

I’m sure that the politicians could find a handful of people that could note their concerns, I would say fears but we all know what courageous types politicians are, and present a number of different ways that a Health Care system could be structured to avoid these pitfalls. The politicians could also be shown how a public option can be offered without producing the dreaded consequences of the insipid approach that they are able to conceive of and that they would create on their own.

It would even be possible to explain to the public, no matter of what stripe, how a properly structured Health Care Reform bill would be better for their health and the purse than the fragile system that we all expect to collapse under its own weight and inertia.

Now there will be winners and losers here. The political parties will not be able to use Health Care as a divisive issue to pit one segment of the electorate against another. The lobbyist organizations will likely need to find other issues on which to raise money to line their pockets and garner influence and control over politicians. And the public would have to find some other issue to distract them from solving problems and doing something of value to the nation.