August 2009

The healthcare debate has hit many strident notes, and even more troubling is that the debate has been subject to distortion and misinformation. These erroneous pronouncements serve no one safe the egos of those who originate them. Certainly they do not advance the cause of the public good. One of the underlying distortions is about the concept of rationing. Critics speak of rationing health care as if the idea was unheard of in the United States and probably unique to countries like the U.K. and their policies regarding the NHS. Is that really so? Is the idea of rationing health care something alien to the practice of healthcare in the U.S.? Some will be tempted to say yes. And yet, doesn’t the market itself ration healthcare? Aren’t the uninsured, anywhere from 44 to 47 million people, a manifestation of this rationing? Even factoring in that some among the uninsured could afford health care, the proportion is still significant enough to warrant notice. The market similarly rations many things by creating a discrepancy in the affordability of goods and services. It’s not a question of those who can afford diamonds and those who can’t or those who can buy Mercedes and those who can barely afford old clunkers. It’s a question of econ 101 and the point whereby the supply and demand curves meet delineating where some can afford certain goods and some are automatically excluded. That may explain why some can afford good health care plans and some have to do with high co-pays for little coverage, but it’s still a form of rationing.
The problem is not about the dynamics of econ 101 or even about rationing. Unless we see through our games, and let go of our ignorance, fears and excuses, we won’t be able to think clearly enough about health care to know a good plan when we hear it.

Twenty of the U.S.’ 50 states allow some form of corporal punishment in their schools, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming. A new report done by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union reveals that more than 200,000 schoolchildren are subjected to some form of corporal punishment and that disabled students tend to be more often punished than others. The two organizations are urging lawmakers at the federal and state levels to ban nationwide physical punishment of students with disabilities.
We live in an era with more problems than we are able to solve. But this is one problem not only so egregious, it is one we can easily do something about. Spanking or physically punishing a child with autism, cerebral palsy or depression is something that ought to make us outraged enough to demand zero tolerance.

Back in the sixties when the environmental movement was a budding idea, population growth was talked about, and zero population growth—ZPG—a goal for many. Then the religious right came to the fore and rightly or wrongly ZPG came to be associated with birth control, abortions and other measures many felt were against their faith. The rationale was that the Bible said “Be fruitful and multiply”, The Lord would provide ergo population control was therefore an issue for liberals and other secular humanists. Now, decades later with deeper understanding of several issues including what threatens the environment, with a new emphasis on carbon footprints, water scarcity and food shortages, the issue of overpopulation—slated to be 9 billion by mid century—is once more gaining traction. Some even call it the elephant in the room.
It’s a hopeful sign. Let’s hope the traction gains momentum.