Philosophy
I've been featuring pieces by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Gary Cohn over at the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog as they come out and he's got a new piece up about cancer and the Affordable Care Act.
The interesting notion in Cohn's discussion is the way he has framed the entire issue in terms of dignity. Note the contrast with the conservative opponents who always set out the issue in terms of purchasing a product. Their line is that the government should not tel us we have to buy a product, making health insurance equivalent to toothpaste. On this view, dignity is autonomy. A member of the marketplace is dignified if allowed to pursue his or her own enlightened self-interest without constraint.
Cohn's argument is that when you look at those who have pre-existing conditions, like cancer survivors, or who have long-term health care expenses that would exceed the lifetime limits in previously allowed plans, the way that the system as it was allowed to develop by the marketplace deprives those who are forced by bad luck of being treated in a dignified manner, that they are reduced to risks and figures on a spreadsheet to be minimized. Dignity is in being treated like a person, having your life and your projects respected as if they were one's own and that is exactly what the health insurance companies do not do, but which under the Affordable Care Act, they would be required to approach.
So, which notion of dignity ought to be in play here?
- Irony Can Be So Ironic: Affordable Care Objections
Listening to the arguments from the Supreme Court yesterday, the "irony can be so ironic" file had to be opened wide. When President Obama approached the health care debate, he looked at recent history. Republicans went nuts over "Hilary-care"...
- The Dignity Of Inanimate Objects
Working in Gettysburg and driving past the cemetery where Lincoln delivered his address every morning, you understand the ways in which we take things and places and grant them a special status. I have a student who argues that this status is dignity...
- Mississippians Turn To Iran For Health Care Help
Guest post today from Barbara of Mahablog (one of my daily reads). Recently I wrote that Mississippi has the worst health care in the nation. Now I want to tell the story about how desperate Mississippians, abandoned by their government, turned to Iran...
- Lessons For The Health Care Debate From The Tragedies In Haiti And Chile
One of the principle lines of argument from the Republicans in the President's health care summit a few weeks back is that universal health insurance, especially health insurance that covers what people will need from health insurance is an affront...
- Rationing And Race
The current health care debate has echoes of politics long played. There is a despicable ploy that is being dusted off again because it is so damn effective. When you hear the word "rationing" used to scare those who are now employed and healthy, explicitly...
Philosophy
Cancer, Dignity, and Health Care
I've been featuring pieces by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Gary Cohn over at the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog as they come out and he's got a new piece up about cancer and the Affordable Care Act.
The interesting notion in Cohn's discussion is the way he has framed the entire issue in terms of dignity. Note the contrast with the conservative opponents who always set out the issue in terms of purchasing a product. Their line is that the government should not tel us we have to buy a product, making health insurance equivalent to toothpaste. On this view, dignity is autonomy. A member of the marketplace is dignified if allowed to pursue his or her own enlightened self-interest without constraint.
Cohn's argument is that when you look at those who have pre-existing conditions, like cancer survivors, or who have long-term health care expenses that would exceed the lifetime limits in previously allowed plans, the way that the system as it was allowed to develop by the marketplace deprives those who are forced by bad luck of being treated in a dignified manner, that they are reduced to risks and figures on a spreadsheet to be minimized. Dignity is in being treated like a person, having your life and your projects respected as if they were one's own and that is exactly what the health insurance companies do not do, but which under the Affordable Care Act, they would be required to approach.
So, which notion of dignity ought to be in play here?
- Irony Can Be So Ironic: Affordable Care Objections
Listening to the arguments from the Supreme Court yesterday, the "irony can be so ironic" file had to be opened wide. When President Obama approached the health care debate, he looked at recent history. Republicans went nuts over "Hilary-care"...
- The Dignity Of Inanimate Objects
Working in Gettysburg and driving past the cemetery where Lincoln delivered his address every morning, you understand the ways in which we take things and places and grant them a special status. I have a student who argues that this status is dignity...
- Mississippians Turn To Iran For Health Care Help
Guest post today from Barbara of Mahablog (one of my daily reads). Recently I wrote that Mississippi has the worst health care in the nation. Now I want to tell the story about how desperate Mississippians, abandoned by their government, turned to Iran...
- Lessons For The Health Care Debate From The Tragedies In Haiti And Chile
One of the principle lines of argument from the Republicans in the President's health care summit a few weeks back is that universal health insurance, especially health insurance that covers what people will need from health insurance is an affront...
- Rationing And Race
The current health care debate has echoes of politics long played. There is a despicable ploy that is being dusted off again because it is so damn effective. When you hear the word "rationing" used to scare those who are now employed and healthy, explicitly...