A Prayer for Universal Health Care

(Screenshot from the FRONTLINE documentary, Sick Around The World. Every American ought to watch this program to raise their awareness on universal health care.)

When I saw SiCKO it appealed to my emotion. It was a very effective propaganda. Its aim was noble and I generally sympathized with its message. But it was biased. It presented the ugly side of health care in the U.S. while elevating the rosy image of health care in other developed countries. Nevertheless, Michael Moore proved to be successful in raising consciousness on the issue of universal health care (or lack thereof) in the U.S.

But if we are to skilfully tackle the issue of universal health care a better approach would be to look at the pros and cons of universal health care in other countries, learn from their experience, and then copy the model(s) that would be applicable to the U.S. and its unique culture and free-market economy. And that's exactly what FRONTLINE did in the documentary, Sick Around the World. Watch it. It's free.

I've watched it twice already. I've learned a lot of things about different universal health care models by reading the accompanying transcripts, interviews, analysis, discussions, and Q&A with journalist T.R. Reid. It's the best documentary on health care I've seen. I won't be surprised if T.R. Reid wins yet another Pulitzer Prize for the book based on this documentary.

What I particularly like about this documentary is that, even if T.R. Reid is an advocate of universal health care (the screenshot above is Reid writing a prayer during his visit to a Japanese shrine), he did a more balanced presentation than SiCKO by taking a more professional journalistic perspective, talking to the heads of states, politicians, economists, doctors, and patients, and asking sharp questions on the pros and cons of each health care system he investigated. There's no emotional drama involved. It's purely an intellectual and investigative journey.

The result? The more I watch the documentary the more I'm convinced that universal health care in the U.S. is indeed possible. Changing the current messy health care system would not be easy, of course. It would require bold political moves, radical changes to the free-market that drives our broken health care to make it more efficient, but most importantly, we need to have a shift in our collective moral values and philosophy in accepting health care as basic human right.

The latter point, as it stands right now in the U.S., is one of the main stumbling blocks for achieving a truly universal access to health care (not to mention lobbying by insurance and drug companies who would be greatly impacted by government regulation). This point of contention is still hotly debated. There are valid points raised by opposing voices. However, looking at developed countries that had already implemented universal health care, their (consensus) answer to the question of health care as basic human right is a resounding, yes! So the first step is to get beyond the hurdle of this philosophical roadblock. T.R. Reid covered this philosophical point succinctly during his interview with the current president of Switzerland, Pascal Couchepin.

"Now, see, that's striking for an American, because we would certainly say everyone is entitled to an education, everyone is entitled to legal protection if you get in trouble with the law, but we don't say that everyone is entitled to health care."

"Why? Because it is a profound need for people to be sure that, if they are struck by a stroke of destiny, they can have a good health system."

"... So if you ask the people of Switzerland, is everyone entitled to decent health care, the Swiss would say?"

"Everybody has a right to health care."

Unfortunately, Americans are still divided on this. I find it ironic that the richest nation in the world, where majority of people work their asses off, and where vacation days are laughable compared to other developed nations, the notion that "everybody has a right to health care" is still not accepted unilaterally. If we are to take baby steps towards universal health care, this is the first baby step to make: everybody has a right to health care. Other developed countries had already made the leap while the U.S. has been paralyzed in its tracks, thanks to ideological clashes and business as usual self-interests.

In the meantime, the leading presidential candidates are just "tinkering at the margins of a system that needs fundamental change." There's House Resolution (H.R.) 676 looming on the horizon. Whether the U.S. will get there remains to be seen.

For now, here's a prayer for a true universal health care in the U.S.