A Buddhist look at U.S. heath care

The present health care debate, which boils down to public need versus private greed, is representative of particular thoughts or manas as a system of compassion (karuna) versus particular thoughts as a system of cruelty which in Buddhism is regarded as the antithesis of compassion.  

Supplying some background, in Buddhism the Buddha understood that the outcomes or the events in our lives, and by implication our country, are the direct result of certain kinds of thoughts (manas); are led by certain kind of thoughts, and made up of entirely of thoughts (cp. Dhammapada 1).  

With the aforesaid in mind, if our health care system is inadequate for the many but works well for the few, this is the direct result of certain kinds of thoughts which lean heavily towards the selfish ideology of capitalism which was first defined by Louis Blanc in 1850 as the “appropriation of capital by some to the exclusion of others.”  Expanding on this, the government, over the years, has let the ideology of capitalism dominate its thinking so much so that it has turned over the health of a nation to profiteers.

However painful and anger provoking this might seem for those who unwittingly support capitalism’s ideology of greed in which our health care system is basically run by profiteers, they have no leg to stand when it comes to either history or conscience. 

First, as a matter of economic history, the U.S. economy was never based on capitalism but, instead, a modified form of mercantilism developed by Alexander Hamilton and Henry Clay, the main elements of which consisted of high revenue and protective tariffs.  Accordingly, the economic good of the nation came first—not the high profits of the few at the expense of the nation which is the unfortunate situation the U.S. is in today.  

Turning now to the conscience of a nation, the present American health care system is clearly not predicated on compassion so much as it is predicated on cruelty, concisely defined as “indifference to the pain or misery of others.”  And what greater evidence of such indifference than 47 million Americans who lack health insurance while many go into bankruptcy because of a catastrophic illness in their family.  Add to this the high cost of private health care with its gross inefficiencies when compared to one of the best health care systems in the U.S. run by the Veterans Administration, and you have a clear-cut case that the U.S. health care system needs a radical overhaul to make it both compassionate and affordable.

Comments

[Jacob F]

I like what this article is getting at, but remember it is not only the American health-care system that is indifferent, but also the people within the system. There is a larger than expected population of citizens who have the money and resources for health insurance yet, for one reason or another, chose against acquiring/maintaining it. I'm not attempting to discount the larger perspective... I just cannot help but think we --myself included-- are quick to villainize and romanticize these specific aspects of the U.S. health care system without being sufficiently mindful.