I don't have television. When the rest of the world went digital, my family decided not to. We still have a set, but all it really does is play my daughter's Dora videos and my son's Dinosaur Train DVDs. It's been good for us, but I will admit, there are times I miss TV. And for those times, God, in Her Infinite Wisdom, has given us... YouTube.
That's where I catch up on RealTime with Bill Maher. Who is rapidly becoming one of my personal heroes.
One of his recent topics was Vermont's single-payer healthcare plan. You can watch it here. Of course, the comparison to Europe's "socialized medicine" national healthcare plans came up, and one of his guests, Doug Heye, former Communications Director for the Republican National Committee, responded by saying, "Yeah, but when Europeans need surgery, they come over here."
As they always do. As they always, always, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS do.
Every time the word "healthcare" is mentioned around a Republican/Conservative/Teabagger or whatever the hell they want to call themselves this week--every single time, without fail--they ALWAYS respond by saying, "Yeah, but every time a Canadian/European/[insert inhabitant of a civilized country here] needs surgery, they come here." Every time someone mentions Euro-style universal healthcare, their answer is, "Yeah, but they come here to have surgery." You could set your watch by it.
And liberals never, ever, ever, ever, EVER have the right answer. Even Bernie Sanders, socialist Senator from Vermont, who was one of Maher's guests that night (and who is also a personal hero of mine), dropped the ball and flubbed the answer. "You're right," Bernie said, "they do. If they're rich."
Which is the wrong answer.
The right answer is, "So goddam what? Precisely what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? What the hell difference does that make? What's your point?"
What the Republicans do better than anything else is blow smoke and confuse the issue. That's what they do. They are masters of the art of sleight of hand, bait and switch, the strawman, and conflating the real issues. You mention tax breaks for the wealthy, they throw up abortion. You mention healthcare, they throw up gay marriage. And the Democrats, and the American people, always fall for it. We always fall for the red herring.
The truth is that the answer, "Yeah, but the Euros always come here for surgery," bears as much relevance to the debate as would saying, "Yes, but fish live under water!" to my contention that the sky is blue. The fact that Europeans come here for surgery is completely irrelevant to the debate over whether we should have universal healthcare.
The right answer is that yes, the United States DOES have the most advanced medical technology in the world. That is absolutely beyond debate. Assuredly we do. There are two very good reasons for this.
1. We're the richest country in the world. Or we used to be. And, having lots of money and being terrified of death, we've thrown tons of money behind medical research.
2. We have the most extensive university system in the world--thanks to the land-grant university program in the 19th century, which was, by the way, a government initiative--and thus we have built up a critical mass of research institutions.
Pretty simple. Lots of money, government-built and -funded universities. It should be patently obvious why we have the most advanced medical technology in the world.
But the fact that we have the most advanced medical technology in the world says absolutely NOTHING about the method of delivery. It's apples and oranges. The real question to throw at a conservative, the next time he or she makes this totally spurious argument, is, "Precisely how would enacting universal healthcare or going with a single-payer option jeopardize medical research? How would that make any difference?"
The simple answer is that it wouldn't. Has nothing to do with it.
We, in America, could have had the best of both worlds. We could have had the world's most advanced medical technology, and we could have given it away for free to everyone who needs it. Instead, we let corporate greed and corporate control of our political process--as well as our own inability to address illogic with logic--ruin it for all of us.
Pathetic.
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