Medicine: "Public" is a dirty word?

It seems strange that there are so many people who think that a Public Option for health care is so awful. Like the idea of it being public is somehow repugnant to them. I make great efforts to understand others' points of view, and the best that I could come up with is that there are people who feel like *they* would be paying for *the public* to have health care.

That got me thinking...
*they* are already paying for *the public* to have an education. Is health care NOT as vital to our country as education? Don't misunderstand me, I am not extolling the virtues of government schools - I doubt there is an American alive who doesn't know that there are inherent flaws in the system. But isn't keeping our population healthy as important as educating them?

Perhaps if those opposed to a public option for health care were to see the ramifications of losing the public option for education, things might change. Suppose the government decided that it was too expensive to keep running public schools, so the only option was to close them down.

Those wealthy enough to afford private school, could educate their children. A few others might start homeschooling. But what about the millions of children currently educated in government schools? They would be left to fend for themselves. It would be a matter of a single generation before a camera crew could film a piece for "feed the children" in the streets of any city or town on the map. NOT educating the *public* just isn't an option.

So why the resistance to the same for health care? Yes, it all comes down to money. But in the end, if EVERY citizen is entitled to health care - either through their own insurer, cash or the public option, the cost for health care will go DOWN. Once every person has access to preventative care, and people can be treated when they first get sick, people won't get AS sick, and it won't take as much money to treat them.

The price of care in a hospital is based on the costs that hospital incurs. Right now, hospitals have to cover the expenditures they make while treating the indigent in the ER (for things like ear infections and the flu) and the way to do that is to spread those costs among its paying patients. If hospital ERs could be limited to TRUE emergencies, the hospital costs would be reduced, and costs for other services could be lowered. How do we keep non-emergency patients out of the ER? By offering them health care in a doctor's office! It seems so simple.

The issue of health care is NOT a simple one. There are many corporations to please, many people to consider. I do think, however, that the issue of CARING for people's HEALTH is a simple one - we must. We must find a safe, simple and cost-effective way to keep people healthy. (Ask a nurse - I bet he or she would have some ideas.)

I look forward to a day when we can say, "Can you believe it? There was a time when sick people just DIED because they couldn't afford health care. There was a time when poor people couldn't be healed."

So let's get everyone healthy... then maybe we can figure out how to get our schools back in prime working order.