Sunday, September 12, 2010
Change of Mind: Healing of America
Prior to reading the book The Healing of America by T.R. Reid, I thought that I was somewhat educated about our nations healthcare situation, at least educated enough to form an opinion. My opinion about our healthcare was the one of a typical uneducated conservative, I believed that there was no way to change our healthcare system without turning to "socialized" medicine, which, of course, would be the worst thing in the world because "socialism is bad." However, after reading Reid's book, I realized how dense I was being in my thinking, and that there are many different types of governmental healthcare that exist. I now see that there is a way to provide healthcare to all Americans without compromising quality. Now I believe that there does need to be a change in the way our healthcare system is set up, and change is not as difficult implement as we have been led to believe. This book educated me about how the rest of the world handles their systems and what the benefits and drawbacks are of each one. I think this is the first step in helping Americans see what different choices we have and that our current system has much room for improvement.
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Reid's book taught me something similar. The approach to take on healthcare is not an extremely left wing approach or an extremely right wing approach. A "socialized" healthcare system is clearly not ideal. By the same token, having no government intervention will not solve the problem either. There is much to be learned from successful healthcare systems around the world. Most likely, no specific model is going to be right for America. I feel as if Buddha's "The Middle Way" is the best approach. Finding the right balance of government intervention and "capitalism" is the key to everything. This does not mean that it is clear what that balance is or if it will be easy. Personally, this book has not convinced me of what healthcare system is right for us. To be honest, it did the exact opposite. The book showed me that none of the healthcare systems are right for us. Saying that we should adopt France's system because their system ranks the highest on WHO's ranking is an oversimplification. This book does not provide the solution on a silver platter. Instead, it provides the reader with the facts so that we can make informed decisions. Similarly to you, this book gave me knowledge so that I could make a decision. Before reading, my knowledge was simply biased "new channel" information.
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