O Pinions!

Reassurance: a cure to fear, hope for peace

Reassurance: a cure to fear, hope for peace
2009 August 24th

In response to Kim Ashby and how some folks are responding to the incivility of the health care debate (edited).

It truly is difficult to explain how unsettling it is when the world around oneself has changed in subtle but discernible ways.

My world was rocked when I not only lost my job and health benefits, but lost everything else as well when I moved to Oklahoma, a place I'd never been before. And then the 4 years of Hell in Kansas (2 years struggling penniless and homeless in the alleyways...). Let me tell you... my world was turned inside out. In my case there was nothing subtle about it. (I was most deeply hurt by a sense of abandonment by people close to me.)

So... when people are fearful and angry because the world they grew up in has changed without their approval, I get it. Fortunately/Unfortunately... I'm all for that change. Their world was hostile for me and mine; so, I welcome some of what is happening. But I do understand the fear/anxiety involved.

Rather than a shouting match, folks need to be reassured that everything will be okay in the end. And it will.

But how can this be done?

Will people be able to accept that by including the less fortunate they will still get their piece of the pie. Some feel that their personal slice is too small already and the elderly on Medicare may truly have a point as more and more of the burden has been transferred to the beneficiary. Making the social medical plans out there work would be one great selling point. Making it mandatory for all health providers (as part of their oath and license) to take Medicare as full payment would also help.

In a time of transition will people understand that some may lose their super-duper covers-anything plans or that they may be trimmed back without feeling threatened? Will they accept that they may have to pay for non-life-threatening procedures like cosmetic liposuction so that obesity and dental issues affecting the masses are addressed?

Can those who are privileged accept the possibility that they too may lose wealth, lose jobs, have a non-supported illness, become poor, become old and then be at the mercy of a public service... if one exists. If none exists...

Can people be persuaded that the amount of money spent in denying people in need would be better spent providing those needs?

If one can strike at the basis of the fear...

...that I may be just as human as my neighbor... and no better...

then I believe there will be peace on this issue.

I do not see any peace however as long as the inequities and injustices of the present day health system continue.

26