I was wrong. There I said it. I’ve played gotcha with a president, a Democratic party, and a system with which I have, and will have profound disagreements. But the bottom line is, real people, people I care about, are affected by their policies in issues of life and death. As I sit comfortably as an expat in my universal health care country, a relatively poor person with excellent insurance at an affordable price, I’ve learned something.
It is time for me to put away my thoughts about me on this site and think about them.
A number of recent diarists have highlighted the advantages of universal heath care around the world. There are great interviews and documentaries out and available on PBS.com about universal health care. Who can forget Michael Moore’s "Sicko" as the provocative and effective shot-across-the-bow that it is? So this diary isn’t about the facts. We know them.
As I reflect on no longer having the stress related my time without health insurance in the US, as I numbingly ignored problems and self-medicated without seeing a doctor, I can’t sit by and watch forces of greed prey on fear to forward their agenda of continuing a death spiral status quo. See Pat Buchanan's recent screed if you can stomach it.
I think there are several strategies that need to be employed at the same time. I think we need to clear the distractions (like paying for an ad to counter the ridiculous, fraudulent "Birthers" and their enablers) to use that money to talk about health care. While opponents of fairness in health care are selling fear, we can appeal to another base emotion, jealousy. Michael Moore touched on this in "Sicko", especially with the trip to Cuba sequence.
People respond to a number of different things and fear of not getting something someone else has and of being treated unfairly is powerful in the US. We need to focus on that message and others in a crystal clear way. We can talk about what this reform will do for Americans by talking about what universal health care systems do for others.
"Is the average Canadian, Brit, or Swede worth more than an American? Their governments think so when it comes to health care. Is that fair?" There are powerful, anecdotal examples of heath care experiences for 30 second spots that could counter irrational fear mongering with reality. They could be used in town halls to counter the insurance company sponsored traveling rowdies.
We have got to get those on the fence to jump to the side of universal health care in an active way (more than just a vote but to call or write a letter and get others to do the same, even in Red States and Districts). I’m not thinking of the regulars here who are already engaged (thank you!) but those who we contact who are unsure.
When people start to counter their fear of what they may lose by thinking about what they are losing right now, perhaps the feeling that the US health care system needs to be more fair and the time to change it is now can become powerful enough to make the forces of unfairness sound as ridiculous as they are.