First and foremost, I’d like to reference my friend Josephine’s blog post on the same subject, as she makes many excellent points and brings some excellent personal angles to the debate… http://leftturnatjoy.blogspot.com/2009/07/great-debate.html

Now, on to my view on the whole matter… my mother is a nurse.  She has been working in a nursing home for the very very ill since before she was my age, and she has seen firsthand the results of “The Best Health Care System On Earth.”  In many cases, the big, unpreventable curve-ball diseases aren’t the ones that make her patients most miserable or require the most care by the on-staff nurses.  It’s more often than not diabetes, digestive system disorders, and the like that not only are much easier to treat in their early stages, but also can be completely avoided if patients were able to receive preventative treatment.

Personally, I’ve also seen the effects of The Best Health Care System On Earth on the working poor at my job.  Technically, at this point, I qualify as a member of the working poor.  Were it not for the fact that I’m still covered by my parents’ health insurance, I wouldn’t be able to be insured at my current employer… like most of my co-workers.  It’s also clear to me the effects of being in this state for most of one’s life… It’s in my co-workers’ teeth.

I don’t tend to notice people’s teeth too much.  However, part of that was the fact that most of the people I know have pretty decent teeth.  My parents’ teeth aren’t that great, but that’s because, in the case of my father, he’s always been a little lax in the hygeine department, and in the case of my mother, she consumes more acid and sugar-laden soft drinks every day than I do in a month.  The point is though, I thought basic dental care was a lot more universal than it actually is until I started working here.  Nearly every single one of my co-workers over thirty has teeth missing, rotting out, or none at all, and nearly all of them profess this is because none of their employers have provided them with decent dental coverage, or they didn’t qualify because their supervisors kept them just under enough hours to qualify.

At the end of the day, if you leave businesses, whose primary concerns are their own bottom lines, in charge of the health and well-being of the people, the people are going to lose out to the board-member’s yaght.

There is, however, one other point that I feel is necessary to make… and that has to do with personal responsibility.  My boyfriend is one of the healthiest people I know.  He’s strong, hardly ever gets sick, and exudes his own health and vigor.  Yet, his health care is practically non-existent, despite working long hours in the back of a gormet restaurant’s kitchen making breads and desserts.  How does he manage other than by being relatively young?  He understands that his health… the overall state of his body is directly connected to the things he puts in it, the level of basic maintenance he provides it, and how active he keeps it.  He doesn’t smoke, drinks only in remarkable moderation (one beer a week, maybe a glass of wine when eating out, and so on), hardly consumes any caffeine, doesn’t overeat, limits his intake of sugary foods, and consciously eats foods that are good for him.  If he eats red meat, it’s lean.  He eats fish nearly every-other night, or else sticks to poultry, beans, or dairy to provide his protein.  If he needs to sleep, he sleeps.  He drinks plenty of water, and is conscious of his dental hygeine.  He spends most of his day on his feet, not sitting down. Basically, he does nearly everything nearly perfectly.  If he did regularly go to the doctor (if he had good insurance and could afford an annual check-up) I’m sure the doctor would be very proud.  The only major infraction he regularly commits is indulging in rich foods.  The man loves his cheese.  However, because he does everything else so well, he can get away with it… and that’s the major lesson.  There’s nothing wrong with indulging in something rich or sugary every now and again, but it has to be balanced.  This is basic disease prevention at its cheapest, easiest, and most readily available.  Yet, so few Americans are really that conscious of it.  You don’t need to pay a co-pay to eat more vegetables and whole grains, nor do you need a referral to drink more water, or a prescription to add a little extra physical activity to your everyday life.