Fear of Change: Health Care Reform

Anytime you mention reform of any kind, you're just asking for opposition because if there's one thing people don't like, it's CHANGE! Good or bad, people would rather stick to the way things are, and struggle it out then to change the thing that's hurting them. That's because their negative imagination makes them fear the unknown future more than they fear the dreadful present. As Spencer Johnson noted in his best-selling allegorical book, "Who Moved My Cheese?," people will do just about anything to keep from changing.

So I guess then I shouldn't be so shocked that so many people are latching onto any type of negative press they hear about Health Care Reform to violently fear it, vehemently oppose it, and imbue it with all the vitriol they've mustered for all the things that have gone wrong with their life. But I'm still shocked. Shocked that so many people are locked into such a state-of-mind that they can't see that change can be good, that the future can be brighter, and that the universe is not always out to get them.

There are plenty of complex analyses of the pros and cons of Health Care Reform, so I'll give you my simple take on it, which is "Why not try?" If we fail, we fail, but then we'll know how to make it better. If we stay where we are, we'll never know, and we'll still be failing, every day, every minute.

Here are some other points I thought were salient:

We have private and public schools, universities, utility companies, postal services, why not private and public health care?

How can we leave such a vital component of human life into the hands of people who may or may not have our best interest at heart, and definitely have their own pocketbooks in mind when it comes to OUR health?

Remember what happened to California, and all those blackouts the greedy electricity companies made us endure to hike up our electricity bills?!!! And what could people do who need electricity but endure it and take it, with no alternative? It's a basic necessity so they have us at their mercy. That's how the health care companies have it with us now, with our health! And people think that's ok. They've somehow convinced people that this is ok, and that Health Care Reform would be the evil thing. Meanwhile they're making major profit margins off our sickness, and they're one of the biggest lobbyists on Capitol Hill.

But it's not hard to convince people when they poke at the fear that everyone has, of the unknown future. And people bite. It's sad, but they do.

When private companies have a product that is a necessity to our lives but without much competition, they have us at their mercy, and that power corrupts. Look at Enron and the banking industry. These companies need to be checked, because when you're at the top, you don't care about all the little people under you getting hurt, needing help. As long as your needs are satisfied, your palace is kept in nice order, your corporate jet is filled with champagne, you could care less. That's just human nature.

That's why it has to be checked. The public option is a way to keep the health care companies in check. It's as simple as that. If we have to pay for it, we have to pay for it. We do pay for it anyway. And probably much more because we pay when people get really sick, rather than when they could have gotten preventative care and taken care of the problem early on, so we would have paid less.

And I know some people hate the idea that their hard-earned money is going toward paying someone else's health care bills, but if you really think about it, it really helps you. Consider: what if some person got infected with some deadly contagious disease but had no health insurance and couldn't see a doctor? What happens when that person comes in contact with someone, who passes it to someone, who passes it to someone, who passes it on to you and your family? Now you have a big problem that could have been avoided if that first person just had the ability to go to a doctor.

Universal Health Care like Universal Education helps everyone. Like Universal Education helps ensure an educated workforce, Universal Health Care will help ensure a healthy, vibrant workforce that can contribute to the economy and make major breakthroughs. Everyone benefits.

President Obama is making his speech on health care tonight at 5pm PDT. I have faith in him to pull this out. I hope that the public option will still be on the table. If not now, at least for the future. But I'd rather have some reform now than none at all. If it's just stronger regulation, that's something. A big step in a positive direction.