Hello Everyone!
Today I'm going to talk about how health care reform and its implications for planetary survival. No, this is not about how the "Obama death panels" are going to curb the population, especially seeing how no such thing exists. I'm afraid, the American people have been living with death panels for decades, we just call them Insurance Companies. And sadly, they've been dealing out medical rationing not just on the basis of ability to pay, but to cut costs and fatten their profit margin for decades.
However, that is not the main topic here. The main issue I mean to address is the extent to which it has become harder and harder, and harder still for anyone who doesn't qualify for a government health program (Medicaid, Medicare, VA etc) or work for an employer that provides insurance, to afford anything no matter how basic. And there are many reasons why that matters for the whole idea of-I'm not fond of the word "sustainability" and consider it overused- really society's ability to adapt and respond to various problems rather than putting them on the backburner until the 11th hour or later.
One consequence of this is that bright people increasingly end up working for larger and larger, and thus fewer companies, simply because the smaller businesses either don't offer health benefits, or if they do it is harder for them to survive. Now this isn't to say that medium to large companies are always corrupt, weak on innovation, or inflexible nor does it posit a vision where small businesses are always seen as the answer to everything. But I do suggest first of all that a R&D and pilot level operations for technologies such as algal fuel, fuel from garbage or wastes, solar water heaters, solar thermal energy, and even a few electric car dealerships are coming from relatively small companies. Many of them have ambitions to scale up their operations but money remains a constant constraint. Of course, there are many reasons for this. However, one cannot overlook a context where almost any small firm either has to shoulder a large financial burden in covering health insurance costs, or letting most of their employees go without. And I've met many people who've worked for smaller firms and were temporarily willing to live with this risk plus lower salaries for "the cause", but then a chronic condition was diagnosed, or a child was born. And they felt that getting a job with a larger company was the "responsible thing to do".
But even with larger companies health costs are a factor in very conservative and unadaptive decisions. For example, Detroit has often claimed that "there isn't enough demand" for electric vehicles, hybrid, fuel cell, and flex fuel vehicles as opposed to SUV's and Hummers. But the truth is that SUVs and Hummers have a higher per vehicle profit margin than smaller cars and certainly electric, hybrid, or alternative fuel vehicles. And while there was a lot of greed and shortsightedness in the auto industry a major reason for the financial pressures that drove such decisions was the increasing insurance premiums of the companies' workforce.
So at both the big business and small business end our society's inability to find ways to cope with issues such as climate change or energy shocks has been stymied in part by a dysfunctional health care system.
It is important to remember that small businesses are not just the small farms and mom and pop stores that are often talked about. Nor are tech start-ups the majority of the rest. We are also talking about food processing plants, bottling plants, banks, software firms, certain law firms, farm equipment stores, canneries, not only bookstores but also certain publishers, software firms, environmental testing firms, HazMat companies, certain manufacturers and communications companies. It may even become possible for small companies to do things such as solar thermal energy, algal biofuel, carbon recycling, or desalination. If small businesses didn't deal with such a disadvantaged climate.
The current situation where smaller companies are at such a disadvantage and smaller manufacturers have a hard time surviving has created a situation where only the heaviest most energy and water intensive industries become a proverbial 900 pound gorilla and other industries are seen as expendable. Where we send the products of extractive industries such as steel and timber across the Pacific by the boat load and in return get back loads of cheap plastic crap from China. For Wal-Mart to become the nation's largest employer. And with Wal-Mart as the largest employer that means you are either going to have the status quo where Wal-Mart employees often go without health insurance. Or you'd end up with a situation where Wal-Mart becomes one of the largest if not the largest private source of income to the health care sector. Pick your poison!!
Does a public option look so scary now?
Also I'd like to address the reasons and concerns that drove the early ecology movement's attitudes towards health care. One common attitude in the early ecology movement was the preference for diet, exercise, meditation, biofeedback, vitamins, herbs, acupuncture, massage, folk remedies etc, over drugs and surgery. This may seem either quaint or commonsense to different people who read this blog. But to put that attitude in context this was before it was known that certain herbs come from endangered plants, back when much more was thought to be correctable by talk therapy than is accepted today, before several trends towards labeling various procedures as "unnecessary" backfired, and before Andrew Weil proved that "crunchy" attitudes towards health can be commercialized too.
But one thing that has been forgotten by much of the public is that one of the desirable goals of the health system would be that people should be able to get better health outcomes for less money. Under the current insurance companies Americans have pretty much been paying more and more for premiums, deductables, and co-pays but getting less and less in the way of actual care.
To add a particularly valuable perspective on health care, I'd like to post the opinion of an 85 year old nurse who grew up, a coal miner's daughter in the America that existed before the current insurance system. In short to include the voice of somebody whose perspective is shaped by nearly a century of experience. In reading Kitty Schindler's essay, I see not only a firm reminder that her time was nothing to get too nostalgic about. But also a painfully obvious commentary on how hard it has truly become for many people in our much more affluent times, to get even the most basic services. Sometimes even for those *priviledged* enough to get "cadillac" level health care insurance.
Say Goodnight readers!
Today I'm going to talk about how health care reform and its implications for planetary survival. No, this is not about how the "Obama death panels" are going to curb the population, especially seeing how no such thing exists. I'm afraid, the American people have been living with death panels for decades, we just call them Insurance Companies. And sadly, they've been dealing out medical rationing not just on the basis of ability to pay, but to cut costs and fatten their profit margin for decades.
However, that is not the main topic here. The main issue I mean to address is the extent to which it has become harder and harder, and harder still for anyone who doesn't qualify for a government health program (Medicaid, Medicare, VA etc) or work for an employer that provides insurance, to afford anything no matter how basic. And there are many reasons why that matters for the whole idea of-I'm not fond of the word "sustainability" and consider it overused- really society's ability to adapt and respond to various problems rather than putting them on the backburner until the 11th hour or later.
One consequence of this is that bright people increasingly end up working for larger and larger, and thus fewer companies, simply because the smaller businesses either don't offer health benefits, or if they do it is harder for them to survive. Now this isn't to say that medium to large companies are always corrupt, weak on innovation, or inflexible nor does it posit a vision where small businesses are always seen as the answer to everything. But I do suggest first of all that a R&D and pilot level operations for technologies such as algal fuel, fuel from garbage or wastes, solar water heaters, solar thermal energy, and even a few electric car dealerships are coming from relatively small companies. Many of them have ambitions to scale up their operations but money remains a constant constraint. Of course, there are many reasons for this. However, one cannot overlook a context where almost any small firm either has to shoulder a large financial burden in covering health insurance costs, or letting most of their employees go without. And I've met many people who've worked for smaller firms and were temporarily willing to live with this risk plus lower salaries for "the cause", but then a chronic condition was diagnosed, or a child was born. And they felt that getting a job with a larger company was the "responsible thing to do".
But even with larger companies health costs are a factor in very conservative and unadaptive decisions. For example, Detroit has often claimed that "there isn't enough demand" for electric vehicles, hybrid, fuel cell, and flex fuel vehicles as opposed to SUV's and Hummers. But the truth is that SUVs and Hummers have a higher per vehicle profit margin than smaller cars and certainly electric, hybrid, or alternative fuel vehicles. And while there was a lot of greed and shortsightedness in the auto industry a major reason for the financial pressures that drove such decisions was the increasing insurance premiums of the companies' workforce.
So at both the big business and small business end our society's inability to find ways to cope with issues such as climate change or energy shocks has been stymied in part by a dysfunctional health care system.
It is important to remember that small businesses are not just the small farms and mom and pop stores that are often talked about. Nor are tech start-ups the majority of the rest. We are also talking about food processing plants, bottling plants, banks, software firms, certain law firms, farm equipment stores, canneries, not only bookstores but also certain publishers, software firms, environmental testing firms, HazMat companies, certain manufacturers and communications companies. It may even become possible for small companies to do things such as solar thermal energy, algal biofuel, carbon recycling, or desalination. If small businesses didn't deal with such a disadvantaged climate.
The current situation where smaller companies are at such a disadvantage and smaller manufacturers have a hard time surviving has created a situation where only the heaviest most energy and water intensive industries become a proverbial 900 pound gorilla and other industries are seen as expendable. Where we send the products of extractive industries such as steel and timber across the Pacific by the boat load and in return get back loads of cheap plastic crap from China. For Wal-Mart to become the nation's largest employer. And with Wal-Mart as the largest employer that means you are either going to have the status quo where Wal-Mart employees often go without health insurance. Or you'd end up with a situation where Wal-Mart becomes one of the largest if not the largest private source of income to the health care sector. Pick your poison!!
Does a public option look so scary now?
Also I'd like to address the reasons and concerns that drove the early ecology movement's attitudes towards health care. One common attitude in the early ecology movement was the preference for diet, exercise, meditation, biofeedback, vitamins, herbs, acupuncture, massage, folk remedies etc, over drugs and surgery. This may seem either quaint or commonsense to different people who read this blog. But to put that attitude in context this was before it was known that certain herbs come from endangered plants, back when much more was thought to be correctable by talk therapy than is accepted today, before several trends towards labeling various procedures as "unnecessary" backfired, and before Andrew Weil proved that "crunchy" attitudes towards health can be commercialized too.
But one thing that has been forgotten by much of the public is that one of the desirable goals of the health system would be that people should be able to get better health outcomes for less money. Under the current insurance companies Americans have pretty much been paying more and more for premiums, deductables, and co-pays but getting less and less in the way of actual care.
To add a particularly valuable perspective on health care, I'd like to post the opinion of an 85 year old nurse who grew up, a coal miner's daughter in the America that existed before the current insurance system. In short to include the voice of somebody whose perspective is shaped by nearly a century of experience. In reading Kitty Schindler's essay, I see not only a firm reminder that her time was nothing to get too nostalgic about. But also a painfully obvious commentary on how hard it has truly become for many people in our much more affluent times, to get even the most basic services. Sometimes even for those *priviledged* enough to get "cadillac" level health care insurance.
Say Goodnight readers!
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