Is universal health care what we want in the United States?

The election is over. It is time to look ahead and decide what to tell our elected leaders to do for us. The top crises are COVID-19, the economic swoon, racial conflict and our climate.

Fixing the COVID crisis and the economy will get addressed quickly and settled. With an effective vaccine and some effective stimulus, things could be on autopilot for years. Whew! That was easy!

Stabilizing the climate and interracial relations will take decades of hard work. What else is there?

We are way, way behind on health care. Why have we failed to fix this, when other nations have had efficient health systems for decades?

The manifestations of health insecurity are legion. Everyone is concerned with the possibility of a catastrophic illness or injury. They won’t be able to work, care for family, or keep their homes and savings. In some cases, they lose the health insurance they relied on.

Even without a personal health crisis, what about the cost, inefficiency, and unfairness of the health care system we have cobbled together? It’s like Whack-a-Mole, the result of individual decisions to tweak some detail for somebody. Politics has its unsavory role tilting the playing field in favor of one or another stakeholder. Unintended consequences have a life of their own.

There are so many details to disagree about. Health security means something a little different for each of us. This focus on one’s own situation is both an opportunity and an obstacle when we are trying to reach a solution. We need a system for health care security, authoritative and responsible, working for all of us. If we can agree on a goal, perhaps we can make progress. If you don’t know where you want to go, there is no point in trying to get there.

Don’t waste time arguing details until we have agreed on the broad outlines of what we want. Let’s be radical! Let’s start from where we can agree, and work from there. There will be trade-offs, as in job loss, but there will be plenty of work to do. Retraining administrative workers to new administrative jobs should fix that.

What is our shining goal? Universal health care — everybody in, nobody out. Who would reject a universal system, especially if it were fair, affordable, effective, and responsive?

What would a good universal health care system provide? High quality care. All the components need to be available. That means enough funding plus well-trained doctors, nurses, physical therapists, speech pathologists and other support staff. Think of hospitals, clinics, dialysis centers, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and job security. The system will be available to the rich as well as the poor — everybody.

We have been struggling for decades to make things work here. It takes money, organization and planning to keep things going. A redesign is needed to make it easier and cheaper and better. Instead of a thousand competing entities fighting it out for their own interests, let’s get some direction. Why not have an authoritative, accountable, knowledge-based body like the Federal Reserve take on this responsibility?

Back in 2008, PBS produced a documentary, “Sick Around The World,” showing how five different advanced countries arrived at universal health care using different approaches. The film has aged well since 2008, before Obamacare. Obamacare is OK, but it is not universal. We can do better. Watch the film at https://www.pbs.org/video/frontline-sick-around-the-world/

Frank Turner is a retired physician and frustrated health care reform activist. He’s also a member of The Olympian’s Board of Contributors. He can be reached at ft113203@gmail.com

This story was originally published December 18, 2020 at 5:45 AM.