Maelos’s Maelstrom

So let me try and focus on one particular topic for a second. Ohhhh, here is a good one. This is one of the reasons that a few of my health classes are getting on my nerves. Either I believe their ideals to be just plain wrong, or they seem inevitably flawed. Here is a little something I wrote in response to a question proposed on a homework assignment:

The answer to the American Healthcare System’s woe is simple. It is an ideological change. We need to stop taking care of the people who won’t take care of themselves.

We are far too concerned about the care of the few minorities, special cases, and other special interest groups that we sacrifice the good of the majority. It sounds cruel, but in a way we are only ensuring our own destruction. By caring for those who don’t care for themselves we cultivate a culture that accepts disease as something that is “ok”. Again, it sounds cruel, but the most deadly virus is the one which is able to last the longest and spread the farthest. By allowing the virus to live longer in its victims, we are only boosting its effect on our society. Perhaps this view is ignorant, arrogant, and horrifically skewed, but from what I have seen in other countries there is a completely different mentality. If you cannot deal with the situation, the society won’t make it easier for you, you will have to adapt. This method helps to “root out” or “exterminate” any who cannot keep up with the curve. Why do we spend so much money on executing criminals or the millions of dollars we spend on surgeries for a handful of people. I am sure it is amazing and may lead us to a greater place, but can the money not be used in a better way. This is an oversimplified view with many faults, but some of the Health care systems woes seem to be created by its directives.

Yes it is highly skewed, deranged, and probably ill willed. All that together hopefully will provoke a though or maybe even some laughter. I don’t know why it makes me angry, but it just does. When I visited Russia one of the biggest hassles was transporting one of our American tourists. She was a rather large lady who seemed to like the label of handicapped. Said lady would constantly demand and order special attention and help. The thing is, Russia was not built for people like this. Russia, from my brief experience, is much more utilitarian. If you cannot keep up with the curve set by the general populous, you fall behind, wither out, and leave the population. Here in the United States, a country I love and will defend given the drop of a dime, we are somewhat ruled by special interest groups. These groups are those that can gather the passion, funding, and influence in Washington to create a customized country. In a way we are a country ruled by the minorities. It has helped a great many things, but sometimes it irks me.

Like with healthcare. “We don’t have the money to pay for the thousands of simple life saving surgeries, but we have the money to pay for one extremely complicated, expensive, irrelevant surgery for one patient who can grab the attention of the media”. If all of this doesn’t explain it…I shall try again later.