The fracas over health care reform is making me think of George Lakoff’s book The Political Mind, which I reviewed a year ago. Lakoff discusses what he calls “privateering”—the privatization of previously public functions like education, prisons, and even security in Iraq—pointing out that government is accountable to the public in ways that corporations are not. The point seems relevant to our current debate since many Americans are afraid that health care reform will mean that government will get between them and their doctors, even though right now private insurance companies get between them and their doctors, a situation people seem to take for granted. (Some commentator made this point yesterday, but I can’t remember whom to credit.) We can vote out our elected officials if we don’t like their policies, but we can’t vote out an insurance executive. We can’t even boycott the insurance company, if that’s the only one in our area or the only one accessible though our employer, without putting ourselves at risk. Yet, it’s clear that many Americans are more afraid of government than they are of profit-driven corporations. I find myself wondering where this fear comes from. I’m more afraid of the corporations.
Among the Thousand IslandsAs I write this, we are crossing the border into Canada, a country that is said to exemplify either the wonder or the horror of national health care, depending on your perspective. I’m curious what Canadians make of our current health care debate and hope we have the chance to ask a few. For now, all I can say is that it is beautiful on both sides of the border, and the river that runs between us doesn’t seem that wide.
I’m with you, and for the same reasons. I figure it’s easier to bring pressure to bear on elected officials than on insuance executives. Furthermore, a government system would theoretically be accountable to the people. (Though we know monied interests sometimes get in the way of this and government regularly screws up — it’s by no means perfect.) However, a publicly traded corporation is *by law* required to look out for the financial interests of the shareholders. Why people find that more comforting than government limitations I just don’t get. As you said, it might be different if there were real competition. But then again, maybe not. If dissatisfied sick people leave the insurance company to go to another (assuming they were able to do so), what skin is it off the insurance company’s back? They just lost a money drain, which is actually *good* for them. You’d have to convince a large number of healthy people to join a boycott on behalf of the sick people in order to make the company hurt. Not so easy.